


Star-heart servant of Crimson Dragon

by MissQED



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arcadia Movement, BBT actually having an impact, Canon Rewrite, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Multi, Post-Bonds Beyond Time, Psychic Abilities, Psychic!Yuusei, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:47:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22410505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissQED/pseuds/MissQED
Summary: Yusei had known from a young age that his powers had two sides: one kind and benign, the one that helped him keep an eye on everyone and brought him solace even at his darkest point, and other violent and terrifying, the one that could level down an entire block of buildings if he so wished.The first one, all his friends knew about. The other... well, dead men tell no tales, and Yusei was certainly not going to spill his secrets. He might be forced to, however, what with the sudden appearance of Crimson Dragon, dead not being quite as dead as you'd want them to, and Yliaster and Arcadia Movement keeping a borderline stalkerish eye on him...As the tags say, canon re-write, starting from the first episode (though technically it starts back before Zero Reverse, but eh)
Relationships: Fudou Yuusei & Stardust Dragon, Jack Atlas & Fudou Yuusei & Crow Hogan, Johan Andersen | Jesse Anderson & Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Rua&Ruka(Yu-Gi-Oh)
Comments: 35
Kudos: 78





	1. Exercising control, and obsessions of men

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Determination](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10592496) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



> The nostalgia got me to binge re-watch 5Ds... just reminds why I love both 5Ds and Fudo Yusei so much :) I'll be using mostly Japanese sub names, but tell me if I need to include in beginning/end notes English dub names.  
> Also I won't be using doubled or extra vowels (Fudo Yusei, not Fudou Yuusei) - frankly that style of _romaji_ annoys me and sounds weird when I try to pronounce it (but that may just be non-English native speaker in me speaking lol), so I'm ditching it.  
> Be kind to me, I guess, this was mostly written at 1 AM after all, and have fun!

Contrary to popular belief, Dueling for Yusei has never been just about having fun; it was never just about getting food on the table and keeping the decidedly _nastier_ bits of Satellite away from those he cared, either.

No, Dueling for him was first and foremost about exercising _control_ : control over himself, control over his mind, control over his opponent’s strategies, control over the powers he had been born with and had no idea how to name but instinctively knew how to use to win no matter the cost. This was why he stuck so stubbornly to what he knew, to what he was sure would work, triple-checking and then double-checking the results of that triple-checking. He simply could not let go of his restraints, like Kiryu once had, even though it got Team Satisfaction the reputation it had and ensured peace for short while; he could not breeze along by the seat of his pants like Crow did, counting on the mutual bond of the cards to get him through and hoping for the perfect next draw; he could not go all out like Jack always did, off and on Duel grounds, always burning for bigger, better, _more_ and pushing his limits way more than what he should.

If he did, he would cause unimaginable pain to everyone around him; his careful experiments when he was younger, more brash and far more trigger-happy than strictly necessary, assured him that his powers knew no difference between enemies and friends. Every backlash, every mistake, every slip of judgment would cost both innocent and guilty equally, and Yusei could not carry their harm on his conscience without breaking apart – he simply couldn’t.

This was what pushed him to stay in Satellite, despite knowing he could simply slap his beautiful, breathtaking Stardust Dragon onto the antique Duel Disk he had found in the ruins of what was once game shop, then painstakingly repaired and modified for D-Wheels, and be off to Neo Domino; he couldn’t leave Crow, Kiryu and Jack like that, and the amount of power he would have to showcase could quite literally bring down an entire block of rickety buildings down. It it hadn’t been Satellite, Yusei maybe would have dared to pull off such a brazen move; but this _was_ Satellite, the dump that only grew worse by the day, and Yusei didn’t dare hurt anyone without being certain they deserved it.

Not that it stopped his dreams of getting out – it simply rerouted them to other solutions, namely building D-Wheels and using the garbage pipeline for a getaway, and venting in the B.A.D. area with his powers whenever the buzzing in the back of his head became too much and stress of failed D-Wheel test drives left his legs shaking and cheeks radiating heat from helplessness and rage.

Unfortunately, he was stuck in a place where he didn’t want to be for two unnecessary years – granted, it could’ve been worse, his first D-Wheel took him nearly _five_ years to get working properly, this time around it was just collecting the right parts and rethinking the design since he had everything else figured out. Still, it was difficult sometimes not to remember that harsh, windy winter day that stole from him his D-Wheel and his heart-card Stardust, particularly not in the moments like this, when the accelerator chip died on him _again,_ so close to reaching the speed he needed to clear the pipe in time.

 _Master, be calm,_ Junk Warrior whispered, placing his ghostly gauntleted hands on his master’s glowed ones. _If needs be, Speed Warrior will give you a final push to get through._

“I can’t have that, Junk Warrior,” Yusei shook his head, taking off his helmet and picking out Junk Warrior’s card, materializing it by placing it on still active Duel Disk. It was easier to talk to his monsters that way, Yusei knew from long experience. Only Stardust could talk with him without materializing and not make Yusei feel like he walked from Satellite to Neo Domino on foot afterward. “We have no idea how delicate the metal near the maintenance hatch is, and if we leave even the slightest hint of evidence… I have no wish to be treated like a lab rat.”

 _There are some others like you, Master,_ Road Runner piped up, eagerly bouncing in its comically large shoes as he appeared next to the Synchro Monster it often helped summon. _I’ve snuck out a few nights ago, and met this crazy Spirit -_

“Runner, what did I say about sneaking out of Satellite?” Yusei somewhat rudely cut it off, brows narrowed at suddenly cowering Duel Monster as he started pushing the D-Wheel he had named _YuseiGo!_ on a whim, Road Runner’s card also finding its way onto the Disk.

 _Not to do it without alerting you,_ Road Runner said with a droop in its energy levels. _‘m sorry, Master. I just… I wanted to check on something._

“If you went over to argue with Jack’s monsters _again_ ...” Yusei left the threat unspoken, but Junk Warrior and Road Runner both shuddered in tandem – they knew how their Master dealt with misbehaving Spirits. There weren’t a lot of things in this world worth several days spent in Yusei’s Graveyard slot, completely aware of their Master but unable to contact him.

_Nonononono, swear, swear on Master’s name I didn’t! I had only heard about this girl who could something like you Master, summon us for realsies, and went to check her out!_

“She can?” Yusei was interested despite himself. No one in Satellite was quite like him: Jack had that strange, wing-like birthmark, several people could talk to Duel Spirits, but no one could do anything remotely close to what Yusei could. “Have you learned anything?”

 _Not a lot,_ Road Runner pouted as it spoke. _Her monsters were totally not-friendly – like that one guy we met near Martha’s place, remember?_

“The one with Arcana Force deck?” Yusei recalled the surly, cloaked grey-haired man that sometimes read people’s futures for food and always looked at Yusei as if he had just tore his favorite card in front of his eyes, and his monsters weren’t any more friendly. “Well, I shall steer clear of her.”

 _Yeah, about that…_ Road Runner shifted a little. _She seems to be the top member of a whole organization of Duelists like you._

“Organization, you say?” There were enough of them to form an organization, and the top member’s monsters were extremely hostile? Yusei will _definitely_ be avoiding that organization. “Name?”

 _No idea , sorry Master,_ Road Runner radiated genuine upset. _But all of the monsters were plants – bit creepy-looking fellas if you ask me, but should be easy-peasy to find once you get to Neo Domino!_

Junk Warrior sighed, and even though his design did not have a mouth, Yusei knew his Synchro monster would be smiling with exasperation at his deckmate’s contagious enthusiasm. Honestly, it was hard not to smile at Road Runner too; with all its blabbering and bouncing, it reminded Yusei so strongly of Rally and some of Crow’s and Martha’s more energetic kids.

“Alright you two, I think it’s time to leave,” Yusei gently shooed his monsters, pocketing their cards away as he spotted the familiar stretch of the metro line, just before what was once West Domino station and was now Rally’s, Nerve’s, Blitz’s, Taka’s and his favorite haunt. It also had a convenient exit relatively close to the garbage processing factory in which Nerve, Taka and Blitz worked, and where the pipe that would be his gateway to Neo Domino was – plus one of the outermost places where you could get a good reception from Neo Domino’s TV broadcasts.

This fact was ruthlessly exploited by the hideout’s inhabitants when they watched Jack’s televised duels, but normally Nerve, Blitz and Taka tried to schedule their watch parties when Yusei was away venting or scavenging for the parts. However, since accelerator chop fritzed on Yusei, he had to return before his normal time, which allowed him to catch the end of the post-match interview Jack always gave to the press.

“ - _say to your future challengers?_ ”

Yusei revved the motor a little, partly to test if motor suffered any due to sudden surge and crash of energy courtesy of blown out accelerator chip, and partly to alert his friends he was home early.

“ _Bring. It -_ ”

“E-ey, Yusei,” Taka chuckled, scratching the back of his head, his underchin wobbling slightly. “You’re home early.”

“Jack won?” Yusei skipped over the small talk and went straight for the jugular, the jagged glass shards of pain and hurt from hearing Jack’s voice long since eroded into dust and sparkling metal of determination centered on one man and one card.

“Totally toyed with the guy, it was almost sad,” Nerve confirmed, a little firmer than Taka in his stance, not even slightly apologetic about watching the match. Good; Yusei’s pain was not their pain, and he didn’t begrudge them their fun. “We would’ve watched somewhere else, but this is the only place that has a reliable connection.”

A little apologetic still, but Yusei could easily brush that aside in favor of in-depth checking of his motor, the Momentum energy flow and the state of the motherboard – all thankfully in the exact same condition as before. The chip had imploded, and not exploded, due to overheating: that would save him the trouble of having to fish out bits and pieces of the chip from D-Wheel’s guts, but also gave him a thankless task of manually checking the fragile connectors for any damage or signs of melting.

In the background he registered his friends arguing about insensitivity of bringing up Jack and his offenses against Yusei (both the card-stealing and D-Wheel-stealing part), but he was far more interested in calculating a way of bypassing accelerator chip’s top speed limit. Maybe if he managed to keep part of the power inside the circuits and outside the motherboard… it would make the ride a little too unsafe, though. Was it worth trying … ?

 _No,_ Yusei thought to himself. He had gotten to this point by being himself, precise and meticulous – he would not stop now, at the finish line, just because he couldn’t find a proper accelerator chip. If he had to wait a couple more months before the right chip fell into his hands, he’d wait.

“Hey, Yusei!”

Rally arrived in the rickety hideout in a whirlwind of an overly long coat Martha had sewn up to fit the childish frame and bright orange hair, running at top speed and voice echoing with excitement.

“Rally,” Yusei abandoned the work for a moment to give his youngest friend a greeting.

“You’ll never believe what I found, look, look!” The boy grinned and dug into the inner pocket of his coat, pulling out what looked incredibly like -

“Is that accelerator chip?” Blitz asked, sounding rather suspicious. “Rally, did you steal this?”

“No, no, I swear, it was just laying around!” Rally defended himself, looking a little hurt by Blitz’s accusation, and Yusei’s heart melted at the sight.

He could understand Blitz’s nervousness – he, Yusei, Taka and Nerve had all managed to endure until now without getting caught and Marked, which allowed them to work in the garbage processing factory (well, Yusei couldn’t because of the his past with Team Satisfaction, but that wasn’t important). If they got caught, they would get Marked _and_ fired, which would then force them to either go begging or join Duel gang, which Yusei was dead set against. On the other hand, just because Rally had once seen a toy he thought Yusei could fix, stole it and then promptly got caught did not mean he was a thief at heart, and being accused of such a thing when he only wanted to help was hurtful.

Besides, Yusei suddenly got an idea – a mad, slightly too reckless idea for his own liking, but he liked the odds of getting out of this unscathed. After all, he was more than aware who would be on the chase if Rally’s chip really did turn out to be stolen – or, also quite likely, planted to get either him, or Rally, or someone else, into trouble – and he could easily figure out _that_ man.

Ushio Tetsu was simply predictable that way.

“I’ll take it,” he cut into Rally’s, Nerve’s and Blitz’s three-way argument, swiping the chip from Rally’s hand and quickly pressing it into the undamaged slot, the computer connected to the motherboard spitting out some truly amazing numbers after only a few seconds – this was his ticket out, he knew it!

Naturally, Security butted in to ruin the moment, but Yusei could not be deterred – even with the numbers being a sight for sore eyes on his screen, he still wanted to test the chip; and what a better way than to get _dear_ officer to Duel him in return for silence?

“Get out,” he ordered, tapping a quick password to activate Marker scrambler and thrusting the laptop into Rally’s hands. “This’ll confuse them for long enough to get away.”

“And you, Yusei?” Rally asked, eyes wide like deer as he clumsily handled the laptop.

“Yeah, what about you?” came from Taka.

Yusei just smirked, sending a light mental nudge to his deck to alert them of the upcoming match.

“I’m taking out the chip out for a test run.”

With that, he slammed the helmet on his wild mess of a hair Crow had often jokingly called a black-and-gold crab, and sped out of the station, almost running over the waiting Security with his D-Wheel. As he heard the sirens and the chopper blades following him, he allowed himself a small, feprivate grin at their expense. His plan was unfolding just as he wanted it to; now the only thing he had was win against Ushio Tetsu – and winning in Duels was one thing he had managed to nail down to science, thanks to Jack’s harsh teaching and his monsters’ unwavering support.

Spotting an open warehouse, he whirled there and stopped, waiting for Ushio to come to him.

* * *

Winning against the Security always left an special aftertaste in Yusei’s mouth – not quite ash, and not quite slightly acidic water masquerading as rain that showered Satellite every once in a while, but something in between; something that forever reminded him of the night he watched Kiryu kill, the screams of ‘TRAITOR!’ in his ears, the blood on the floor and drenched clothes and fire pit in which Yusei, Jack and Crow solemnly burned Team Satisfaction vests, vowing never to return to that lifestyle. He always reigned in his monsters when he Dueled with Security, and without a dissent they listened to him (okay, he had to promise them a workout in the junk dump just off Crow’s little shelter-turned-kindergarden and clamp really hard on the power surge that begged for release when Ushio summoned that Montage Dragon, but that was par for the course).

The most important part, though, was that accelerator chip was working like a dream – no hitches, steady input to output ratio, and no overheating. Now, he just wanted to stress-test the speed on a straight line and time it for the pipeline run. He was in the middle of doing so with Rally’s eternal cheer-leading and timing him, when Bolt Hedgehog tugged on his jacket sleeve, just before he set off for one final run.

 _Master, your friends are in trouble with other humans,_ the creature said in a surprisingly deep voice; the first time Yusei had heard it, it had freaked him out, and now it became one of Hedgehog’s quirks as he followed his friends while they were away and reported all problems. _What should I do?_

“Nothing,” Yusei sighed, both in reply to Hedgehog and Rally’s concern over his sudden pause. “I’m just talking to my monsters,” he explained to the boy, fishing out the right card and manifesting it.

“Our friends landed themselves in some trouble… _again_ ,” Yusei added wryly after a short pause, eliciting a laugh from Rally. “What kind of trouble?”

 _Minor,_ Hedgehog reported, all serious and stern. _Few curse words I dare not repeat in front of a child and a physical altercation._

“A fist-fight,” Yusei resisted the urge to facepalm. “Rally, please check our stash of bandaids, clean towels and gauze, and see if the deep-freeze is working; if not, tell me so I can get ice from Martha.”

“But Yuse’, your run…?” Rally nailed him with a wobbly lower lip and wide eyes – perfectly effective if you didn’t grow up with Crow and Jack, who had gotten the puppy-eye look down to art.

“It can wait,” Yusei said with a shrug, his priorities clear in this scenario. “Besides, we stress-tested _YuseiGo!_ enough to pass even the strictest tests, let alone get me through the pipe – our friends are more important. Thank you, Hedgehog, you may go,” Yusei dipped his head in show of respect to one of his oldest monsters and companions as he took off the card, Hedgehog saluting his master and vanishing into thin air both as a hologram and as a Spirit.

“So, should we go and get them?” Rally still sounded slightly miffed, but went over to the box where they kept all their medical supplies, nonplussed by Yusei talking to his monster – all his friends had at one point or another witnessed him talking to monster spirits. “Or wait for them to get here?”

“Hedgehog said it was only a fisticuffs, so they should be able to drag themselves here,” Yusei said with a hum as he parked D-Wheel and cleaned up a right mess that his mechanic table had become – it still had enough space to hold his laptop, but with him being gone, there was no point of keeping things messy. “We’ll only go if they don’t appear in the next hour or so.”

“Roger that!” Rally saluted sloppily with one hand in pocket and other on his forehead before reporting back on the situation. “Bandaids and alcohol are both here, but I’m not sure if we have small enough container for water to make ice.”

“We can always use plastic bags in a pinch,” Yusei suggested, and Rally nodded before flying away to pick some from the street and wash them a little before placing water in them for ice. In the meantime, Yusei busied himself with preparing the bandaids, some more cleaning, and filling three small cups of water for the wounded, all to avoid thinking about next week.

Next week was full moon – and coincidentally, the day when he’d have his chance to get to Neo Domino, the maintenance day, aligned with the night of full moon that should have no clouds. It promised to be quite a scenic ride into Neo Domino – far cry from the bitter, grey winter clouds under which Jack left.

Yusei didn’t know what to make of that, but with his powers in play, he learned never to outright dismiss something as pure coincidence. For now, though, he decided to just focus on Jack and Stardust – his heart-card had been separate from him for way too long, and he itched to feel it under his fingertips, hear its call, see its face-up drawing in person and not just in his memories that inevitably blurred with time passed.

_Jack, I hope you at least took good care of my heart-card – or at least as good of a care I would’ve given your soul-card, Red Demon’s, if you were away ._

* * *

“Damn it!” Jack all but flung himself onto the couch, breathing heavily and glaring at the innocuous pile of cards that formed his deck laying on the table in front of him. Waxing gibbous moon shyly peeked from behind the scattered clouds, still the only celestial object Jack could spot from Neo Domino despite his elevation. Who would’ve thought he’d miss the stars he could easily see in Satellite slums?

“Stop thinking about it,” he command his mind, but he was powerless – the dam, once broken was impossible to fix. The thought of stars led him to Stardust Dragon, the card he had never taken out of his inner breast pocket since he showed it to Rex Godwin at the entrance of Neo Domino, and naturally his mind jumped happily to its true owner.

Jack was not the one to kid himself; Stardust was never his and would never be his, nor did he need it in the first place – Red Demon’s was more than enough, his soul reverberating in sync with the dragon’s heartbeats and heart throbbing with the same fire the monster embodied. He was fire and overwhelming force, not air and sacrifice for the injured – he’d let Yusei have that role with no complaints. But oh how wished he could see his once friend’s face, even if it meant seeing his vengeance, his anger, feeling his fury and coldness he so easily wielded as a weapon against those he considered unworthy of his affection.

He slapped himself for such thoughts. He wanted to see Yusei because he’d actually give him a fight, not because he _missed_ him! What kind of idiot would _want_ his worst enemy close?

Then again, Yusei was never truly an enemy, was he?

“Restless night, King?” Rex Godwin appeared soundlessly behind him, and Jack jumped in his seat, cursing internally as his Team Satisfaction instincts screamed to _let go_ and _take him out before he takes you out_.

“None of your business even if it was, and it isn’t,” Jack snapped at his main sponsor, frankly sick and tired of his overbearing presence and constant hovering. Wasn’t having Mikage there at almost all hours of the day enough for the control freak? “I merely wish to enjoy what little of sky that I can see from here.”

“It does have the best view of the sky… as well as a perfect view of Satellite,” Godwin murmured, and Jack clenched his fists at the veiled reference. “Very well then. I shall leave you to your nightly vigil, King. I heard from a friend of mine a mug of mint tea creates just the right atmosphere for stargazing, if such a thing interests you.”

“Not a lot to see here,” Jack snorted before pausing, registering Godwin’s words. “A friend? Someone I have met?” He was unsubtle in his prodding, but this was the game he and Godwin played – exchanging little pieces of information about each other, with Jack always behind and never quite right about Rex Godwin’s motives and past.

“Oh, no one you’ve ever met, they died in Zero Reverse,” Godwin smiled genially before bowing lightly and exiting.

“Damn that man,” Jack said through his teeth, slamming his fist onto the couch. “Damn him to all pits of hell!”

The moon still shone brightly, and Jack could all but hear Yusei’s voice quietly complaining about the lack of stars, followed by Crow’s jab at Stardust being shiny enough to double as a star by herself and Kiryu laughing in the background …

“Stop. Thinking. About. Them, Jack Atlas!”


	2. Running through the pipe, and getting a few stalkers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yusei Duels Uryu and Ushio, almost loses control of his powers, and lands himself squarely on Arcadia's and Yliaster's watch list, all in span of twelve hours. Only Yusei.

“Seriously you guys, don’t make us worry like this,” Rally fussed over Blitz and Taka as Yusei checked over Nerve’s scrapes and bruises, a reverse from the situation from a few days ago with the accelerator chip. The hideout was otherwise quiet, with no sounds of tinkering or one of Yusei’s more energetic monsters running around – but Yusei could feel his nerves vibrating at the injustice of seeing his friends hurt for essentially nothing. The energy in him danced near his fingertips, begging him to use it and _punish those who dared - !_

Yusei pushed down that urge within him with practiced ease, but made a mental note to sneak out that night and take out the excess energy before he went on to pipe run. It wouldn’t do to face Jack in such a high-stakes game for him with his pent-up adrenaline and feelings getting in the way and turning the math into something way more deadly that it should be.

 _Calm down, Yusei, you’ll get your chance to vent,_ he soothed down his instincts. They went away most reluctantly, reminding him of Jack obstinately following him around even when Yusei completely ignored him in favor of working on Duel Disks or D-Wheels in the past.

Yusei shook his head, amused at how often he started thinking about Jack recently. He _had_ been a little too fixated on him, had he? Then again, Jack had taken his primary focus, his heart-card Stardust, so Yusei could find a reasonable explanation for why he hyper-focused on the other man – thinking of Stardust inevitably meant thinking about Jack, and vice versa.

A commotion just on the entrance of their hideout drew his attention – one guy with his two-men posse, and Taka, Blitz and Nerve seemed to be exchanging some heated glances and words with them…

Oh, so those were the bastards that beat his friends? Yusei clamped down on his emotions _hard,_ before it managed to get better of him – he did _not_ need to bring down the cracked roof right where they were standing after all. Taking a deep breath, he finally stood up and walked right up to the idiot guy.

“Ho, that a D-Wheel?” the sleazy leader Yusei didn’t even bother asking for name – he didn’t deserve such courtesy – asked, eyes barely leaving the sleek red chrome plates of his D-Wheel. “How about you give it to me, and we can forget about this – a payback for all the trouble you lot caused to us...”

He laughed at his own joke, his posse joining in, and Yusei felt his nerves whittle away as their voices grated on them mercilessly.

“No,” he said shortly, drawing the attention of the idiot brigade.

“Ho, so you’re the D-Wheeler? You can Duel?” The guy’s eyes flitted over the D-Wheel, a glint Yusei was far too familiar with appearing in his eyes. “Let’s put it up as a prize, mh? You win, you keep it, I win, I keep it.”

With that, the guy was handed his own Duel Disk – Neo Domino standard, Yusei noted, albeit a generation or two behind the top models he had seen online – by one of his lackeys.

Yusei sighed, and exchanged his decks, ignoring all the protests in favor of putting himself in a right mindset. He would not use his powers in a Duel, be it Riding or Standing, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t wish for a second that he could control them enough to only hurt the bastard and not anyone or anything else.

Well, once he got Stardust back again, he’ll get back to the training and pepper his dragon with questions. Who knows, maybe he’ll find other Duelists like him – not the girl Road Runner mentioned, but someone nicer – and figure everything out. But to get to that point, he needed to keep his D-Wheel, and apparently he needed to teach this punk a lesson to make it happen.

 _Ah, this certainly throws a wrench in my plans ,_ Yusei grumbled to himself when he noticed the time on his D-Wheel screen when he went to detach the Duel Disk, ignoring the compliments to his Disk modifications. _I won’t have enough time to go and vent… well, I’ll just cross my fingers and hope I’ll be able to calm down by the time I face Jack. No sense in ruining whatever Duel track we use for our Duel – though knowing him, it’ll definitely be that Kaiba Dome he always uses when he has challengers. Predictable even in his unpredictability, Jack._

 _F or now I need to focus on this guy. Wouldn’t do to lose the sight of my current objective – who o ping this moron’s ass for spitting on our dreams like this . Though,_ Yusei narrowed his eyes as he followed the guy to a spot little further away from their hideout, _he seems to be a beat-down Deck-type… just the type I like to bring down in a two or three-turn kill, but we’ll see. He might just surprise me._

“Duel!”

 _Nope, beat-down like I predicted, and an Insect deck to boot,_ Yusei rolled his eyes internally as he watched a ghastly-looking centipede with chainsaw-like pincers, Chainsaw Insect if he heard it right. _Why did all the sleazy, nasty guys he’d met so far had to have Insect decks? Wouldn’t it hurt them to have stuff with four or two legs only? That Antlion’s Vengeance though… I’ll have to get around it quickly before he manages to blast off too many Life Points because of the insane Attack/Defense ratio his cards have._

_Good thing is, beat-downs are usually light on special effects that target opponent and his monsters directly, and mine is chock-full._

Summoning Shield Warrior and placing Scrap-Iron Scarecrow facedown, Yusei looked at the situation, ignoring the jeers and being called ‘chicken’ by the guy (Uryu, Yusei heard, but opted to ignore the name). The next card out should be something powerful, and something that’ll most certainly shave off the guy’s Life Points due to his own trap.

 _Why am I dealing with this idiot, again?_ Yusei sighed as the guy had to be reminded of Antlion’s effect affecting him too as the Duel proceeded. _That’s right, my D-Wheel. If this continues, no matter how good I am at clamping down, I might still slip due to this guy’s sheer arrogance that’s only eclipsed by his stupidity… ah, cool it, Yusei. Don’t say a thing, don’t provoke him – this guy is just a Neo Domino reject who doesn’t know he’s dealing with a former member of Team Satisfaction. You’ll get him on the next turn._

After a chain summoning of not one, but _two_ more disgusting bugs, Yusei was glad he had filled his Deck up to the brim with pinch-saving cards, guaranteeing he could draw Scrap-Iron Scarecrow in first or second draw – he wouldn’t have survived otherwise. The same, however, could not be said for his Shield Warrior, who Yusei could _hear_ groan as it got sent to the Graveyard.

 _I’m sorry,_ Yusei sent a mental nudge to the fallen monster as it slowly drifted into the Graveyard, and got a reassuring hum and a soft whistle that Yusei could only translate as forgiveness.

His powers, on the other hand, rioted at the sight of Shield Warrior’s pain. _Get him, get him, crush him like a **bug** he claims to love so much! _ Yusei shook his head and took a deep breath, pulling out a new card – Domino – and snarled right back at the energy.

_Stop it! Let me finish the Duel in peace!_

The energy subsided slightly, but Yusei could still feel its dissatisfaction at his refusal to use them. Too bad, Yusei was not going to endanger people like that. If it had objections, it should’ve chosen someone else to be their wielder.

Finally free to do what he wanted, he quickly calculated what to do. Junk Synchron and Speed Warrior, Dual Summon to get them out, Synchro Summoning Junk Warrior, adding Fighting Spirits and then unleashing Domino as the cherry on the top. _Two-turn killer, like I predicted. Jack, did you feel like this when you lectured me on the balance of my deck?_

* * *

The business with the goons done, Yusei could finally turn to the moment he had been waiting for: the pipe run he had scheduled for midnight. According to the far too easily hacked Security’s files, he would have three minute window of time to get through to the maintenance hatch and get into Neo Domino, and his D-Wheel was already clocking the run time for that distance at two minutes. It should be an easy thing: go in, don’t lift your foot off the pedal and hand off the accelerator, go out.

Naturally, Yusei knew it wasn’t going to be that easy, not with his powers still seething in the back of his mind, angry that Yusei hadn’t let them out during his Duel with sleaze guy (Uri? Uryu? Uru? The final name gave him chills, so he stopped trying to remember his name), and most _certainly_ not with Officer Ushio hot on his heels.

Someone didn’t seem to be too much of a sporting loser, it seemed, but Yusei had to give it to the guy; for a Security, he wasn’t all that bad – pushy and annoying, sure, and more than a minor obstacle at the moment, but he had his integrity as a Duelist. He could hold grudges over his losses, but he didn’t try to settle them outside the Duels, instead waiting for a fair chance to get back at the one who one-upped him.

Unfortunately, that also meant he was currently slowing Yusei down somewhat fierce with that Security standard-issue deck… well there had been a few surprises along the way (the Goyo Guardian’s appearance was certainly not a surprise Yusei wished or wanted, but he got it nonetheless), but the point still stood. Time had long since stopped ticking and started racing, and Yusei knew he’d be in a right pickle if he didn’t manage to get himself out of there in time!

 _Master, if you need our help,_ Junk Warrior whispered from the other side of the field – and that sight did hurt, it just reminded him of his Stardust and his mission, how he _had_ to get the card back – with longing. _We will behave, if you command us not to hurt or damage._

 _No,_ Yusei said with a deep frown. _I trust you, but I don’t trust myself. Besides,_ he drew Nitro Synchron and allowed himself a small smirk behind the cobalt-tinted vizor, _I have this match in a bag. I just need this turn, and we’ll be free._

“My turn!” _Let’s finish this, Nitro Warrior._ A positive hum came from the Extra Deck, and Yusei gladly activated Dash Pilfer to snatch back Junk Warrior. The warmth at the gesture shot through him, and Yusei gave a nod to the slowly fading monster as it gave up his place on Yusei’s field to its distant cousin, Nitro Warrior.

Slamming that final attack almost made Yusei lift his leg from the pedal – it felt so good to defeat Ushio two times in a row! - but then an alarm sounded on his dashboard.

_Shit!_

Time was up, and the enormous gates that temporarily held back all the rubbish Neo Domino kept sending Satellite started pouring out. Yusei gritted his teeth, and yanked a little at the handles as he desperately reacted with no thinking to the incoming wave of broken things -

 _I need help,_ a distant corner of his mind supplied as he spotted the maintenance hatch, the doors already halfway down, and to Yusei’s horror, his powers responded.

_NO - !_

It was way too late – Nitro Warrior had heard Yusei’s mind and sensed a surge in power, and was now ready to charge. Heart high in his throat, fingers locked in a death grip around handles, Yusei could only wait for the resolution as he prayed to any god that would listen to him and grant him a wish. _Please, please, don’t let anything happen, I can’t be discovered, PLEASE - !_

Yusei felt only a gentle nudge to the back wheel, tilting the entire D-Wheel to the side, and Yusei instantly yanked down, shifting his center of gravity lower and to the side, going into a death-drop as he skidded through a sharp curve and straight underneath the doors. Not a moment had been wasted: Yusei had felt rubber skim his helmet on the way through, and it had nearly caught the edge of the body that curved behind Yusei’s back and over his head in a semi-circular form before it slammed down with a final thud.

 _I made it. I made it into Neo Domino,_ Yusei thought as his heart finally lowered itself back into its normal place and continued trying to smash his lung and ribs in a bid to push out of his body. The adrenaline was still going strong: Yusei could feel his fingers shaking and his arms and hands were sweating like crazy inside the gloves and jacket, and his vision even went briefly fuzzy before he managed to regain control of himself.

No sense in wasting precious time and opportunity he had created for himself. However, there was still one thing he needed to do.

“Thank you, Nitro Warrior, you may go now.”

The warrior grunted, not saying a word like most of the monsters in his deck, but Yusei could feel its quiet pride in helping and protecting his Master and his dreams as Yusei took off his card and re-sorted all cards in their proper places, before setting off for glimmering lights of Neo Domino.

* * *

“A spike matching a Psychic Duelist? Are you certain of that?”

Divine leaned onto one hand as he sat behind his desk in his office, looking at the man on the other side of the video call.

“ _Yes, Divine-sama, our energy recorder from that Duel picked up a sharp and distinct spike near the very end. It has to be a Psychic Duelist, there’s no other explanation._ ”

“And what is there to know about the participants?” Divine fished for more information. Of course, his plans for expansion of Arcadia Movement were still in place, but it wouldn’t do to miss a potential gem near home just because he turned his eyes to a farther horizon than Neo Domino.

“ _One of them is not in the system at all, and the other is Security goon – so that one is no go,_ ” the caller’s voice was dripping in derision as he named the second participant.“ _The location might be the clue though, Divine-sama, as to how we managed to miss them._ ”

“The location?”

“ _They seemed to be dueling in the pass between Satellite and Neo Domino – likely an underground pipe of some sort._ ”

Divine’s eyes widened, and he leaned back. Satellite – that would explain it! Even with the finest instruments Divine could buy or order to be custom-made, their reach was pitifully short, only managing to envelop Neo Domino and go halfway to Satellite; one of the reasons why he was pushing Aki to go to Furtune Cup tournament. His movement needed exposure, recognition, and a beautiful face, and Aki was a perfect blend of all three of those things. Now, with this new player walking in on the scene… Divine will likely have to re-adjust, and he didn’t like it.

This person, whoever they were, couldn’t be a child: even adults would find it difficult to get out of Satellite. The feat spoke of intelligence, cunning and patience – but it also showed signs of independence and creative thinking, which could easily derail Divine’s plans if they started asking around too much. Elimination of the threat was an option of course, but Divine was not keen on it, particularly not after his contact rattled out the numbers the spike had registered.

Instead, he wanted to ensnare the new player, entice him into the organization and then trap him thoroughly by using either himself or Aki. Initial contact wouldn’t be hard; in fact, Divine was almost sure the player would come to them first, drawn in by the rumors of Black Rose Witch and real damage she dealt in her duels, and to satisfy their own curiosity. Divine couldn’t imagine the Satellite resident being able to find out much about them – it was a dirt-poor slum, after all, and the chances of there being two Psychic Duelists were close to nil – and they would likely crave the sense of unity, the feeling of belonging with someone.

Afterwards… well, for that he’ll need more data about this person.

“Keep an eye out for all illegal, street and unsanctioned Duels – if there’s even a slightest hint our mystery Duelist is engaging, I want to know and get there to see it in person,” he ordered his contact, who bowed their head.

“ _Understood, Divine-sama. Diamon out._ ”

The call ended, but Divine did not relax. He had been woken up at midnight for this call, and now he could no longer sleep. It’d take some time to feel sleepy again, as he learned when he was a teenager, so he decided to check the security cameras, go and Duel against a bot and hopefully then go to sleep.

The decision made, he casually browsed through the video feeds, checking on all ongoing experiments before switching to the residential floors and going straight to Aki’s room feed. It wasn’t often that he checked on her whilst she slept – contrary to what some of his acquaintances and Movement members thought, he had drawn a line between himself and Aki that both respected – but sometimes he’d catch her having a nightmare, which in turn would become a nightmare for him if he didn’t let her duel.

It was as much about her comfort as was for his own peace of mind – he didn’t need a repeat of his and hers first Duel.

* * *

“How recent is this?”

“The Arcadia Movement agent had just finished the call, Director Godwin,” one of the junior technicians said in a squeaky voice. “We sent it to you the moment it stopped transmitting.”

“And no one but you three and I know about the existence of this file?” Rex Godwin pressed, and the three heads nodded. “Good, now take a day off, relax, and forget this ever happened. Understood?”

“Yes, Director,” the trio chorused and scampered out of the main Security control room in Neo Domino, leaving Rex Godwin alone with the recording, the glowing panels and screens and his own thoughts.

Who was this new player Arcadia was so interested in? Divine certainly sounded impressed once the agent had told him the numbers, so Godwin would go on a limb and say it was someone with enough raw power and potential to either match Divine or surpass him, like Black Rose Witch which Rex Godwin heavily suspected to be Foot Signer Aki Izayoi. That fact could easily shift the balance between Yliaster and Arcadia, as Godwin was painfully aware of: Yliaster had knowledge of the possible future and Jack Atlas, while Arcadia Movement had the power of present and Aki Izayoi. New player – singular – would destroy that balance, and potentially ruin the plan Rex had been hatching for the past seventeen years, and he couldn’t have that.

He could eliminate the new player, he supposed, but it would be no fun to do so – besides, Rex was mildly interested in the identity of the player. Who could it be? It had to be a Satellite-born, or someone who was deported there soon after Zero Reverse: Arcadia would’ve discovered them a long time ago if that weren’t the fact.

An image of blue eyes and messy black hair popped in his head, but Rex dismissed the notion as soon as it appeared: Jack had not mentioned Yusei having any sort of power or the Signer mark, so he could be safely eliminated. Though, that did raise the question of who else would be able to build an entire D-Wheel and then be able to outsmart Security…

“So many questions, and none of the answers,” Godwin spoke out loud, his voice echoing almost unnaturally in the empty. “It seems I will have to wait a little more for the Dragon Star and Earthbounds to show me what comes next.”

Here he smirked a little, flexing his prosthetic arm as the etchings under his shirt – which, ironically, bore the sign of Condor, mighty Wiraqocha Rasca, because Rudger had suggested that the best way to hide was to hide in plain sight – came to life for a brief moment.

The stage was set; it was time for the players to come out, and the curtain to rise for what would hopefully be the last iteration of war between Crimson Dragon and Earthbound Immortals.

His phone rang suddenly; the security detail in the building notified him of Mikage and Yeager approaching his office. The video feed showed the pair of them bickering, and Rex grinned slightly. Jack must’ve had snuck out again, probably still waiting for Yusei to come through the same way he did two years ago. It was of no matter though; he would let the boy have his fun, and if Yusei did came, he would have the opportunity to see how much had Shun’s and Ayami’s child grown since he last saw him from a distance in Satellite, and just how good he was at playing.

After all, if he was a Signer like Rex suspected him to be (who else would be able to hold onto such a rare card like Stardust if they weren’t either brilliant or their destined partner?), it’ll be killing two birds with one stone.


	3. Of first changes and short-tempers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yusei and Jack Duel, Godwin kick-starts the chain reaction that will change things drastically, and new players enter the stage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tentatively use one OC here, mostly because I always wanted Bonds Beyond Time and previous series to actually _influence_ 5Ds in a more significant way - we will still get Z-One and Dark Signers and the canon cast will get primacy, but... Please do indulge me :)

This was the night; Jack could feel it in his bones as his Wheel of Fortune ate the distance between his Tops apartment and the Diamon Area where the pipeline to Satellite start. He had gone there quite a few times in the past two years, but he had never felt this kind of urge, the _need_ to be there and wait for the clock to tick away first hour after midnight. If Yusei truly managed to get past and ride his way into Neo Domino, he would be arriving within an hour past midnight – the accelerator chips of the newer generation were more than powerful enough to half the time Jack had once needed, and Yusei was a damn good driver on top of that.

Parking on the side of one of the overpasses, Jack tossed a glance at the full moon hanging over him, and the barely-there stars he could sometimes see for the docks, the lowest and most light-free part of Neo Domino. It was quite a beautiful night for escape, Jack had to admit; the sight of the stars’ light giving way to the glowing panels and billboards of Neo Domino… Jack had once been overwhelmed by the change. Would Yusei?

_Of course not_ , Jack snorted internally as he spotted a dark blot rapidly approaching and glowing red from time to time as it passed light and dark patches. _He always had this annoying ability to hyper-focus – nothing and no-one can get him to look past what he determines to be his objective._

_Though, nice paint job and design – suits him better than that chrome-white theme and plain functionality he lifted off from Security,_ Jack noted with humor when he managed to distinguish bright red paint and curved plates above the driver’s head. _Unfinished circle… well, about time we close it, shall we?_

“It’s been a long time, Yusei!” he shouted as the D-Wheel skidded to a stop two levels underneath his own, Yusei taking off his helmet to better eyeball him. _He hasn’t changed much, has he?_ Jack thought with derision. _Same old Yusei, always has to do everything himself to be up to his standards._

“Jack,” Yusei frowned at him, and Jack has to hold in his amusement at his old friend’s emotions being visible on his face. Yusei hadn’t changed, but neither has Jack – if one thing he knew how to do well, it was reading Yusei’s face, and riling him up.

“What, nothing to say to your old friend? How long has it been?”

“Two years,” came Yusei’s short answer, and Jack refrained from facepalming. Oh yes, Yusei had certainly not changed at all – still not talking any more than necessary. Oh well, Jack’ll get him to talk one way or another.

“Two years, huh… Nice D-Wheel you’ve made,” and he didn’t even have to reach for his acting skills to sound sincere – he _was_ impressed by the custom D-Wheel, its sleek red-painted plates and design that should be impractical for high-speed racing but wasn’t, just like his one-of-a-kind Wheel of Fortune.

There was not a single D-Wheel out there that could match it, and Jack could happily claim to have known the creator, to have his own D-Wheel’s skeleton made by the man – he still remembered with great glee the stunned looks on Neo Domino’s technicians’ faces when they realized just how sturdy the skeleton was, despite the innards being a patchwork job held only by judicious use of duct tape and some weld work. Not that he’ll admit it to Yusei, though – he still had an image to keep.

“You did run off with the first one I made,” was Yusei’s answer, and was that _anger_ Jack sensed in his deadpan voice? Hoo, boy, if Yusei was _already_ on the edge… there was no point in riling him up anymore, was it? His fury was already high enough to give Jack a good match – maybe the only match that would fully satisfy him.

There was still a question of Stardust, though, and Jack pulled it out of his pocket, flipping it around to show it to Yusei. His once friend’s face twitched, and Jack spotted a spasm in the hand – oh yes, he was right: Yusei was so close to exploding, it would be better not to provoke him any further.

“You might want Stardust, you know,” he sent it for Yusei to catch, excitement dancing along his nerves as he delicately pressed on the final button he needed to make Yusei commit to the Duel. “Come on, put in the deck – you’ve come this far for it.”

Normally he’d be even more abrasive, but something had had Yusei already in heightened state of mind – no point in needling him beyond the point of rational thought; he wanted a good Duel, not a mindless chase that would make Yusei too predictable.

“I’ll Duel for it – you wanted it anyway, right?” Yusei sent it back after a long look at it, eyes blazing, and Jack had to take a step back. He had not seen this look on Yusei’s face since… since…. “I win, I take Stardust and go back to Satellite.”

“Whatever you say – but you have to beat me first,” Jack spit out reflexively, still reeling. Had he gone too far? No, he couldn’t have – he had needled Yusei far worse in the past, and he hadn’t even blinked – so why is looking like _that_? He was no Kiryu, dammit!

Turning around to sit into Wheel of Fortune, he missed Yusei’s eyes glowing for a brief moment, changing from dark blue to crimson-rimmed azure, as well as a Road Runner’s short screech of indignation before Yusei shut them up.

* * *

_You have a LOT of nerve to behave this way, Jack,_ Yusei fumed as he followed Jack into the Neo Domino, relying on him not to lead him astray or into a Security patrol. Ushio- _san_ had already tested his patience enough, and with Jack behaving this way, Yusei could barely keep his head level enough to not start manifesting monsters left and right to let them duke it out with Jack’s monsters.

Speaking of which…

_Runner, leave Dark Resonator alone this instant!_ he ordered harshly, and the pink running menace reluctantly stopped pecking the fiery Tuner, who had until that point been defending itself by smacking Runner with its metal drumsticks that gave it its name. The rest of the monsters from both sides followed Runner’s and Resonator’s example by uneasily settling down and clustering around their owners as they cruised along the highways of Neo Domino.

“Behold, Yusei – Neo Domino, city that never sleeps!” Jack proudly yelled over the wind their D-Wheels created, and Yusei glanced around to see what Jack wanted him to show.

He had to admit, the amount of light was certainly a nice change from Satellite, where the electricity was to be used sparingly and generators Yusei often toiled over to keep them in running state were the only way one could keep the pervasive darkness and potential ill-wishers away. Also, the skyscrapers were indeed awe-inspiring – Yusei could not imagine how living so high up in the air felt like, but he could bet that the sights during night were amazing.

Everything else though… Yusei knew Neo Domino couldn’t be a perfect city – no city ever was – but it tried so hard to be one, it made Yusei feel slightly nauseous. What was the point of having so much light, such high buildings and colorful decorations and advertisements, when you had Satellite adjacent to it, still considered part of Neo Domino jurisdiction? What was the point in showing off for the world, when you couldn’t take care of those who lived in your own neighborhood, who were once part of unified Domino City?

Where was the point of that, and what was the point of being a ‘King’ of such a place? Yusei could never do something like that – have a title that felt as empty and put-upon as the rest of the city’s glittering facade – so how did Jack endure it?

Then again, Jack had always been good at convincing himself of his own truths, particularly after the entire mess with Kiryu…

Yusei swiftly put a stop on that train of thought, took a deep breath and eyeballed Jack’s Wheel of Fortune as they approached Kaiba Dome – the grounds Jack had chosen for their Duel. It was even bigger than Yusei had anticipated or predicted it to be – truly a fitting track for attaining the title of King if one had such a wish, Yusei supposed, and he could see its appeal. However, he was not interested in any such thing: he just wanted his Heart, his Stardust Dragon, back in his hands where she belonged and her spirit to come back to him and help him with his powers as she had promised before Jack took her.

He only half-heard Jack’s bragging about the Dome being his home track and spiel about being the King, as he collected his thoughts and reeled his powers back into the fenced-off part of him – that little slip-up with Nitro Warrior did help a little, but now they wanted more, and Yusei was not willing to let them loose on Jack. He did something terrible to him, but he didn’t deserve to get pummeled like his powers wanted him to do.

What he did see, though, was Jack placing Stardust into his Extra Deck; just before it happened, a loud, airy screech of a dragon echoed in Yusei’s head, and Yusei had to hold back a tear – Stardust was calling back to him, longing.

_Don’t worry Stardust, I’m getting you back!_ Yusei promised within his heart, getting onto D-Wheel and setting up his systems for a Riding Duel. _Ready, everyone?_

_Ready, Master!_ A cacophony of voices replied back as the automatic-shuffle mixed up his cards.

“Now, let’s have fun, Yusei!” Jack called back as the Speed World set on. “I do miss the audience, though!”

_I don’t,_ Yusei thought with a shake of his head. _This is a private match, Jack – between us, and only for us. But yes, we will have fun,_ he looked at the opening hand as he and Jack gunned their D-Wheels.

“DUEL!”

“The challenger goes first!” Jack called back to him, and Yusei nodded in understanding.

“My turn, draw.” He smiled at Bolt Hedgehog as the first glimpse of the plan unveiled in his head. _Want to come out first, buddy? You will be getting a brunt of first damage -_

_Yes!_ Bolt Hedgehog cut him off, its deep voice relaying the same eagerness for battle Yusei felt deep within.

“Okay. Bolt Hedgehog, in Defense! Turn end!”

_Tuners will get him back for Synchro Summoning later on even if Jack removes him from field…_

“My turn, draw!” Jack shouted, before summoning a monster of his own – Mad Demon. Yusei wanted to groan; he knew this monster’s effect all too well. Well, he could forget about preserving his Life Points early on, that was for sure.

_Yusei-san?_ Mad Demon sounded a little surprised as he stepped onto the field, flying alongside Jack’s D-Wheel. _No wonder Master is so excited… No hard feelings for anything that happens between us, right?_

Yusei shook his head, and Mad Demon grinned as it destroyed Hedgehog, dealing Yusei thousand points of piercing damage. Hedgehog only grunted as it went away into Graveyard, awaiting Yusei to use it again later on.

He never held grudges against any of Jack’s monsters – his sole beef was with the man, and in battle everything was allowed. Hopefully Mad Demon will relay the feeling to the rest of the deck, so that Yusei wouldn’t be distracted from further Dueling.

Drawing, he nodded at Junk Synchron. _Ready to call out Junk Warrior?_

_Always more than ready,_ Junk Synchron smirked at its master. _Let’s beat some sense into that little thief you call friend._

“Junk Synchron, summon! Due to its effect, Bolt Hedgehog returns from the Graveyard.”

“Oh, go ahead and Tune, for all I care!” Jack rolled his eyes at him, and Yusei gritted his teeth. _Jack, I know you like trash-talk, but this is going way too far – I’m not one of those poor shmucks you can toss around just by your strength. The way you’re going… you’ll catch yourself in a situation where I’ll be able to read you_ _like a book_ _, and you’ll lose!_

“Tuning – _clustering stars, call upon a new force! Become path for the light to shine on! Synchro Summon, Junk Warrior!_ ”

* * *

Godwin raised an eyebrow at the camera feed from the Kaiba Dome. The feed had no audio, but the system did feed them information about the cards played on the field, taken directly from the conjoined Industrial Illusions and Kaiba Corporation’s card database. _Junk-themed deck, hm? Interesting… they do have an annoying tendency to re-use themselves, and if Jack doesn’t pay enough attention,_ _their_ _special effects will be his undoing._

“Hah, Jack is dominating, as expected of the King,” Yeager said with a giggle as Jack easily halved Junk Warrior’s attack points to avoid too big of the damage and pulled the challenger’s strings to set up his own Synchro summoning. “The challenger is good, but not good enough.”

“The things do seem to be going in Atlas- _sama_ ’s favor,” Mikage agreed, but Godwin was not so sure yet. This person… it was the Satellite-born who had registered on Arcadia Movement’s radar, but he had not used his abilities yet from what Godwin could see. Had this person trained themselves into not using their powers in Duels, only releasing them when _they_ wanted? That was a concerning thought – as well as a refreshing one, to know not everyone was as out of control as Black Rose Witch.

As he ruminated on the implications of the fact, Jack Synchro Summoned Red Demon’s Dragon – and to Godwin’s surprise, Stardust Dragon. _What?_ Then he spotted the shocked and angered expression on the challenger’s face, and chill skidded down his spine. Was this… Fudo Yusei? How…?

“What is this?” Mikage asked, echoing the shock in Godwin, although for completely different reason.

“Well, it is easy for King to generate such a situation – I’m more surprised you spend so much time with Jack and not know about this, Sagiri- _san,_ ” Yeager said primly, obviously not understanding the importance of the summoned monsters. Godwin sighed internally; for all of Yeager’s usefulness and high position in Yliaster, some of the things went entirely over his head.

“We will wait and see, how this turns out,” he cut off the brewing fight between his two subordinates, as he grasped for his wits and reconsidered all of his plans concerning Yusei and Arcadia Movement. Yusei was not only a possible Signer candidate now – he was a Psychic Duelist, and almost certainly a Signer, because how else would be get these powers _and_ have Stardust? Not to mention he managed to build two D-Wheels (Jack could pretend all he wanted, but Godwin knew he was no mechanic, and Fudo Shun was one hell of an engineer hobbyist in addition to being physicist) and get out of Satellite on his own…

He was a dangerous new element in Godwin’s plans – he would have to be brought to heel, one way or another, and under no circumstances allowed to fall into the hands of Arcadia Movement.

While Mikage and Yeager watched the screens, Godwin discreetly pressed a button he hadn’t thought he’d ever use – a button that would get the recording of the ongoing Duel to the two wild cards that had once told him they would not mix with the Crimson Dragon’s or Arcadia Movement’s business.

_Let’s see if you can keep yourselves out of this now,_ Godwin sighed mentally as Jack declared an attack. _Judai, Johan._

* * *

“Message? At this time of the night?” Andromeda Crawford blinked at the maid as she placed the sketchpad on her lap, stretching out kinks on the couch she was sitting on. “Who would send me a message, and why are you interrupting me for it?”

“I was told any messages from Johan Andersen- _san_ are to be treated as the high-priority, _ojousama_ ,” maid squeaked, shivering as Andromeda narrowed her eyes and brushed her silver-dyed hair out of the way.

“Johan- _kun_ sending messages at this ungodly hour?” She extended her hand, and maid rushed to give her the tablet with the message. “Thank you for alerting me – go take a break, and tell Croquet to not send anyone to put me to sleep: this’ll probably take a while.”

“Understood, Crawford- _ojousama_ ,” the maid said with a slightly less squeaky voice before scurrying out of Andromeda’s study. Sighing with a fond smile, Andromeda shook her head and tapped on the tablet. Seemed like Croquet still liked scaring the new staff with horror stories about her adopted brother’s and her’s mercurial moods when taken out of their creative binges. _Pegasus-nii had always been far worse,_ she recalled with fondness. _Right terror if you interrupted him during painting sessions – you could easily end up drenched in bucket of paint-dirtied water or clothes stained with acrylics that are impossible to take off except by bleaching the soul out of the clothes or just trashing them._

Finding the right message, Andromeda clicked on it and the window with Johan’s face on popped up.

“ _Hello, Andy-san!_ ” Teal-haired man waved cheerfully to her, and Andromeda could almost hear Amethyst Cat’s purr. “ _It’s probably some stupid hour over in Japan, but knowing you, you’re probably still sketching and developing new cards, so don’t be too angry at me or the person delivering this._ ” He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck, and Andromeda shook her head. Her brother’s little protegee knew her all too well. “ _About why I’m sending this… well, I just got a really disturbing message from Director of Neo Domino’s Public Security._ ”

“Godwin?” Andromeda muttered, tapping the butt of the pencil on the sketchpad.

“ _It was less of a message and more of a Duel stream, if I’m going to be honest,_ ” Johan continued, now composing himself and looking straight into the camera. “ _The Duel was totally soundless, and included only one caption – Fudo Yusei is a Psychic Duelist._ ”

Andromeda’s pencil slipped out from her suddenly nerveless fingers, clattering down on the sketchpad and rolling off it. Psychic Duelists… it has been so long since she had heard someone direct those words at her in any capacity, last being that arrogant sod, Divine, who accused her of being one.

_I’m no Psychic, and neither was Pegasus-nii_ , Andromeda thought darkly as she briefly paused the message. _We were just unlucky enough to get caught into the mess Judai-kun and Yugi-san usually attracted whenever they went and got saddled with some leftover powers. But Fudo Yusei… not Fudo Shun and Ayami’s son? The baby Pegasus-nii and I planned to gift Stardust Dragon to when he grew up after Judai-kun suggested it? He’s alive?_

Now very, very interested, Andromeda pressed play again.

“ _The best thing is,_ ” Johan said with a smile on his face, “ _Stardust somehow made its way back to him! Well, sort of – Jack Atlas was the one who held the card, but I could see Stardust preferred Yusei to Jack, and he managed to steal it for himself._ ”

Andromeda grinned at the wonderful news.

“ _The problem, though..._ ” Johan frowned suddenly, surprising Andromeda. “ _The Duel_ _stream got interrupted –_ _ended in a flash of crimson light, like_ _how_ _Judai described the dragon that got him through time_ _when Rainbow was stolen, and the short video afterwards only showed quite an explosion site._ ”

Now Andromeda cursed out loud. Crimson Dragon? This was bad, _bad_ news! She had nothing against the deity-like dragon herself, but the fact it had appeared in a match could only mean one thing – shit was about to go down, _hard_. Judai- _kun_ had advised her and Pegasus- _nii_ never to make Quertzalcoatl’s card and its support cards public after telling him what he’d seen, and currently she was very, very glad they had heeded the Herald of Gentle Darkness’ warning.

“ _I’m really worried about Yusei-kun and Jack-kun’s condition after that explosion – could you check up on them?_ ” Johan asked her. “ _And could you book me a plane ticket to Japan? I’ll be informing Judai too about this, but the sooner we get in town to start fixing messes, the better._ ”

“Agreed,” Andromeda nodded as she sped through Johan’s goodbyes and dialed Rex Godwin’s private number, taking a calming breath. Rex Godwin tried her patience at daily basis – but for Yusei, Judai and Johan, she’d have to stay calm.

“ _Moshi-moshi._ ”

“Fudo Yusei, director Godwin,” Andromeda snapped without even introducing herself.

A pause on the line followed.

“… _Excuse me?_ ”

“Location of Fudo Yusei is being requested by his Neo Domino sponsor, Andromeda Crawford,” Andromeda said slowly, mockingly drawing out each pause between the words as if she was speaking with a mentally deficient child (which she considered Godwin to be, in all honesty).

“… _ah, Miss Crawford,_ ” Godwin sounded slightly surprised, and Andromeda grinned victoriously. What, did he expect Johan to call him? Johan, who was not even Japanese citizen, let alone citizen of Neo Domino? Or maybe even Judai, who was considered one half of the whole when it came to Johan, and who could not be reached for months at the time? “ _I’m afraid I don’t know -_ ”

“Spare me the bullshit; I just got off the call with Johan Andersen.” Technically true, but also not quite the truth. “Location… _please_.” She tacked on the ‘please’ more as an afterthought.

“ _I’m afraid I cannot disclose the location,_ ” Godwin regained his spine, but Andromeda was not about to let up. “ _The laws of Neo Domino -_ ”

“The laws of Neo Domino will never protect anyone who came from Satellite even if they were originally born in what is now Neo Domino, thanks to your data-wipe,” Andromeda said, letting the edge bleed into her voice. “One last time, location of Fudo Yusei, Director.”

“… _Currently being detained for breaking the law of no Satellites being allowed in Neo Domino,_ ” Godwin finally said, grudgingly. “ _The old Domino High._ ”

“ _Thank_ you, Director… I’ll keep your secrets well,” Andromeda smirked into her phone and ended the call. Time to get Croquet alerted to the fact his young Mistress will be going out to fetch a criminal… how fun.

_The things I do for my friends’ friends_ , she lamented jokingly.


	4. Shadow-lit escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yusei and Andromeda meet, get out of prison, and Divine get a face-full of Mind Crush.

Yusei gritted his teeth to not yell out in pain when the Security officers tossed him into the holding cell, informing him his ‘trial’ would be held tomorrow morning the moment civilian judge was available. Yes, a ‘trial’ would be held – a trial where everything was already known, and he had no chance of defense because he was from Satellite. His right arm was still throbbing with phantom pain from that crimson mark that appeared in his Duel with Jack, and his head was moments away from splitting open from the sheer amount of suppression he had had to do during the Duel. The worst part was – and Yusei was only too grateful for that strange dragon’s appearance, because it shocked him out of his own head space – he was ready to unleash Stardust’s full power on Jack, augmented by his _own_ too-long suppressed powers, and he had, at the time, absolutely no regrets.

 _How could I have ever rationalized to myself that idea, that want – no, that desire – to attack Jack with everything I could dish out?_ Yusei shivered from the icy concrete of the cell as he used his weaker left hand to prop himself up and get onto the cot – metal, but metal would sooner get warm than the concrete, as Yusei knew from his time spent with Team Satisfaction. _It’s not like I hate Jack, and I dealt with worse stress before and didn’t slip up once. What’s happening to me?_

He looked at his gloved hands, hoping for some kind of answer, some stars-given revelation to strike him out of blue, but nothing came forth; only more guilt, desperation and aftershocks of the adrenaline that still haven’t fully subsided – and the image of that dragon.

Yusei blinked, but the afterimage of the enormous yellow, crimson and vermilion wings and loud cry that left his very soul shaken and heart filled to the brim with sensations he could not name, but could only describe as something close to what he felt when he raced from pipe to Neo Domino at full speed – a heady cocktail of adrenaline, joy and freedom-laced emptiness of mind – remained stubbornly on the inner sides of his eyelids.

 _What was that dragon?_ He carefully asked, mindful of his headache mercilessly battering his scalp from the inside and squeezing his brains with branded iron at the same time. _Anyone?_

 _Master, you’re alright!_ Road Runner appeared first, followed by Speed Warrior and Bolt Hedgehog, the three monsters he relied on the most in his Dueling outside Junk Synchron. They instantly crowded him, cuddling up to him but stayed mostly – blessedly – quiet to let Road Runner speak. _Everyone was so worried something happened after Crimson Dragon appeared!_

“Crimson Dragon?” Yusei repeated the name, letting the syllables roll off his tongue softly. “That’s the dragon’s name? Can you tell me anything else about it?”

 _No, Master, we’re sorry,_ Bolt Hedgehog murmured, snuggling into the lapel of Yusei’s jacket. _What little we know is from Stardust’s little stories she told sometimes, when she was feeling bored, and she rarely talked about anything other than how the dragon looked like and how it created her to combat an unspeakable evil._

“Unspeakable evil...” Yusei hummed, not surprised at his dragon’s caginess, even with its’ fellow monsters. She was an old, old dragon, and she had told him she couldn’t trust him just yet with everything she knew – not that she _could_ tell him everything she knew, because he would not be able to comprehend that amount of information. “And – oh?”

Yusei narrowed his eyes at the darkened, unblemished skin of his right forearm – the arm that had been throbbing for the past hour or so, and that had had an outline of a smirking face on it after Crimson Dragon vanished. _When did it -_

In that moment, a sharp bolt of nausea swept through his body, and Yusei lurched forward, barely keeping himself from throwing up bile as the headache pressed on with alarming strength. Of course – the backlash was coming, and with vengeance!

_Master?!_

“Go – I’ve used too much energy, I’ll only get worse if I continue talking to you,” Yusei ordered, trying not to open his mouth too much and breathing shallowly, trying desperately to wrestle his own body’s reactions into submission. “Go, I’ll be fine!”

_Okay, Master._

The trio vanished, and the nausea eased significantly – not the headache, though, Yusei noted with dark amusement. He was already lucky he only got punished with a mother of all headaches: no need to invite more bad karma by wishing the pain away. Besides, at least his body was no longer in pain beyond the headache: his elbows and knees stopped smarting a while ago, and with the pain in his arm gone, Yusei could pretend he had just overused his powers in the junkyard and was now paying the price for it.

In the middle of those daydreams, Yusei heard raised voices coming from the hallway not far from the cell he was placed in. His curiosity piqued, Yusei walked up to the bars, focusing on the scrambled conversation between a man and a woman – though it would be more appropriate to name it argument, Yusei realized after a few seconds of eavesdropping.

“ - care, you’re releasing him in my custody. You can call Director Godwin if you have an issue with it – I got my permission from him.” The woman sounded agitated

“Ma’am, he’s a felon and in violation of at least a dozen laws just by his presence here, I cannot in good conscience -” The man was your typical paper-pusher, Yusei diagnosed quickly, more obsessed with protocol than doing anything.

“I. Don’t. Care. I’m his sponsor, and you’ll be releasing him to me.”

“Ma’am, unless you have the paper - ”

“Who the hell even cares about paperwork in this city – release him now, or I’ll be calling Godwin, for the second time in as many hours, and trust me he will not be in a mood! Your choice!”

Yusei raised an eyebrow at the furious tone the female voice and the curse she uttered with no care. Whoever she seemed to be bailing out was one lucky guy, to have someone willing to pull a card of calling ‘Director Godwin’ - likely the guard’s big superior.

“Ma’am - ” the guy started again, only to shut up, and Yusei’s eyebrows skyrocketed. Was the woman actually calling this Director? If so, she had _some_ nerves, almost on par with Crow’s more ridiculous stunts.

“ _Moshi-moshi,_ Godwin, it’s me again. Your minion here is not behaving, you might start thinking about his replacement,” the woman was passive-aggressive now, and Yusei had to give a nod for the masterful performance – if she was faking it, she had to be the best actress in the world. “Oh, you want to speak to him? I’ll transfer you to video-call, if you don’t mind – unless you’re sleeping? No? Okay.”

A moment of silence, a choked sound and a quiet rumble Yusei could not decipher later, there was a scrape of the chair against the concrete. It was immediately followed by the clinking of the keys and a swipe of the portable battery. Yusei stepped away as the light and sound came closer, not wanting to risk a baton or a taser just in case, but the warden unexpectedly stopped in front of his door and unlocked them.

“You’re lucky, Satellite,” the man hissed as he opened the door and motioned for Yusei to get out. “Figures it’d be me on the shift when the big guns come swinging… get going, scum!” He gave Yusei a none too gentle push to the back, and Yusei nearly tripped out of the cell and into the hallway, still not understanding.

The woman was here to bail him out?

Following the the hallway and taking an unexpected turn right, Yusei found himself and his snappy escort in the well-lit and modern office. On the opposite of him, near the door that would lead him to freedom if Yusei understood it right, stood a slender, silver-haired woman in her mid-forties, with an older, bulky man in neat black suit right behind her. She herself was dressed in a simple, burgundy-colored knee-length dress with no sleeves with a tiny jacket thrown over, with sandals that reminded Yusei of the image of Roman soldier he had once seen on the ad.

“Wow,” the woman broke the silence, her face lighting up as she smiled at Yusei, “you really look like your father, Fudo- _kun_.”

_Father?_

* * *

Andromeda let her smile widen when she spotted Yusei- _chan_ ’s – and yes, in her head she already started calling him Yusei- _chan_ – eyes glow with muted interest. He definitely inherited his father’s curiosity and mother’s absolute poker face; too bad she had quite some experience with poker faces.

“You know my father?”

 _Yup, and he speaks like Shun_ , Andromeda thought with delight. This will be fun – that is, after she gets him out of this place.

“Here he is,” the rude piece of work that called himself the warden said with a scowl, pushing Yusei- _chan_ forward and into Andromeda’s arms. “No idea why you’d bother with a Satellite scum, but whatever.”

Andromeda nailed him with a look of pure disgust she felt for the guy, and the idiot shuddered much to her delight – the lessons with Pegasus-nii had paid off.

“Come here, let’s get you outta here - ” A loud explosion from outside interrupted her, and she twisted around to look at Croquet, who nodded to her and tapped his earpiece, then grimaced.

“Michio reports Arcadia’s presence,” Croquet informed her, and Andromeda snarled at the name. Oh really, now this sod rears his head and ridiculous hair? What was he trying to do, present himself as a savior to Yusei by getting him out via violence and destruction, possibly even death? Like _hell_ she was letting go of Shun’s and Ayami’s son and Judai’s would-be once-was friend!

Grabbing Yusei’s jacket sleeve, she tugged him closer to herself, shooing Croquet ahead to clear out the path and cover for them while the warden ran deeper into the building screaming his head off.

“Do you have any injuries?” she asked him in a hurry as she dragged him down the labyrinth of corridors to the exit.

“No,” Yusei said briefly, and Andromeda sighed in relief.

“Okay. What waits outside is probably an assault team of monsters that deal real damage, and everyone’s the target until they confirm who’s the Psychic Duelist among us,” she explained to the youth, who furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “I’d love to explain more, but we don’t have time - ” another explosion rang in accentuation of her words, and Andromeda cursed colorfully as she dodged the stray glass shards and metal shrapnel. “When we get into my car, I’ll explain everything, okay?”

Yusei nodded, and Andromeda let out a breath of relief, before continuing to weave through the corridors and dodging the occasional flying debris – although she had to give it to the boy, he knew exactly what he was doing and needed almost no prior warning. Satellite was not a nice place, that much Andromeda was aware of, and while she never even entertained the thought Yusei- _chan_ would be there, the boy would have to be clever to survive for so long there.

 _I’m not much of a Duelist,_ Andromeda thought with a smirk as she observed Yusei strategically take on one of the plaster fragments to avoid running into metal shrapnel just a few meters away , _but I can bet anything you are a monster – it’d be a delight to design a card based on you._

But first, they had to get _out_ , and that bastard Divine was not making it easy for her.

“Croquet, status,” she barked into her communicator masquerading as high-price watch.

“ _Holding up_ _against the cavalry_ _, but we will need your help to clear the way_ ,” was Croquet’s reply, and Andromeda pursed her lips. She had had enough foresight to bring her deck with her, but… She hadn’t touched her powers ever since her brother died nearly a decade ago, and she hadn’t Dueled seriously in even longer, completely immersing herself in leading Industrial Illusions and creating cards.

Sighing, she tapped her watch, making her decision.

“I don’t have my Duel Disk,” she told Croquet in a grave voice. _I won’t have as much control as I’d like_ , was what she actually said. “Get the car ready – I’ll be unleashing a light show for our interloper.”

“ _Understood, ojousama,_ ” the manservant replied and cut off the connection.

“Yu – Fudo- _kun_ ,” she hastily corrected herself as she turned to face Yusei. She couldn’t yet address him too familiarly, right? “When I say run, run like the King of Underworld is on your heels, alright?”

“Can I help?” The boy asked instead, and Andromeda felt exasperation run through her. Was this how everyone felt when Yugi- _san_ and Judai- _kun_ got themselves into a pickle by being their reckless selves? Dear stars, she could definitely understand why Kaiba- _kun_ and Judai’s friends groaned all the time and facepalmed, because she also felt that same urge!

“Do you have your deck?” Yusei stayed quiet, and Andromeda sighed. “Thought so. We’ll get it back later – our priority is getting you to safety. Please, just listen to me; we’ll talk about help when you’re actually capable of doing so.”

Yusei- _chan_ did not look happy with that, but he nodded in agreement, so Andromeda decided to take it at the face value. When they reached the main entrance, she stopped them and peeked around the corner, and instantly spotted Divine, alone with only his monster Magical Android around.

 _One-on-one?_ Andromeda smirked, fingers slipping into the deck holster she concealed beneath her dress on her thigh, feeling the cards respond to her in joy at being finally used.

“On the count of three,” she murmured. “One, two, three – _Darkness’ Master and Light’s Prince united, create harmony in chaos! Fusion Summon, Judge of Shadows – Atem!_ ”

* * *

Divine swore colorfully, barely managing to get Android to shield him from the blast of wind created by the successful Summon. He had just arrived here – did the Psychic Duelist manage to get themselves out before? If so, his plans will need an express readjustment!

“Oh no,” he muttered when the wind died down and revealed the monster – the monster he had seen before. “Crawford, what the hell are you doing here?”

“Better question is, what are you doing here Divine?” The woman had a slight smirk as she walked up from behind her ace monster, Judge of Shadows – the monster she had modeled after Muto Yugi himself, if the rumors were to be believed. Divine could see the slight resemblance: that spiky hair in three colors was a dead ringer for the King of Games, as were the light violet eyes, but everything else was made to evoke Ancient Egypt kings, from the white skirt and sandals to the amount of the gold bracelets, armlets and other jewelry draped all over the monster’s body.

“You’d know if you accepted our invitation,” Divine taunted her with the missed opportunity, deciding he had little to lose. If Andromeda Crawford decided to barge into this game, he might as well drag her further in and firmly on his side – not Godwin’s and Yliaster’s. “Now get out of my way.”

“Ah, I’m afraid I can’t do that,” the woman had the nerve to shrug casually. “You see, you interrupted my own business here, too.”

 _Impossible!_ Fear ran through Divine’s veins, turning blood into solid ice and heart into stone. _How… Did she… what did she know of my Psychic Duelist?_

“Ho, seems someone got scared,” Andromeda taunted him, holding one card delicately between her forefinger and middle finger, back facing outwards. “Let’s see… since we interrupted each other, how about we play a game to settle it? No, not Duel, I don’t have my Disk,” she nonchalantly waved away his raised Disk, and Divine gritted his teeth. “A simpler game. We both have a monster, no? Let’s each pick a move we’d use on our monster on our next turn, and try to guess the other’s move. I win, you let me pass, you win, I let you pass. Sounds fair?”

 _No, it doesn’t,_ Divine thought angrily and repeated it aloud. “I don’t know anything about your deck, or your Monster’s effects and points.”

“Forget the effects, we won’t be applying them, plus I know your deck almost as much as you know mine – that’s to say, not at all,” Andromeda shrugged, playing with the card. “ _Judge of Shadows_ \- Atem has 1800 attack and 0 defense. Anything goes – Traps, Spells, attacks – just no effects from other monsters or our own, and no additional summons.”

Now that sounded more fair to Divine’s ears.

“Fine,” Divine nodded. _She’s been playing around with that card – it must be her move. But what could it be? Judge of Shadows has lower attack points than Magical Android, so I could declare an attack – but that monster is also Fusion monster, meaning she could simply De-Fuse it and my monster would lose its chance of attacking, plus it would be obvious to attack directly with no backup – she could also be holding a power-up card. I can’t use effects of monsters or summon new ones, but most of my Spells and Traps would be immediately useful… I could use Battle Teleportation to attack her directly though,_ Divine decided and found the right card in his deck.

“I made a choice,” he told her, and Andromeda smiled.

“So, do you want to go first, or should I?”

“Ladies first,” Divine gallantly bowed to her, smirking inwardly. He had so many cards, and they never Dueled, so there was almost no way for her to guess the card correctly.

“You sure?” Andromeda tilted her head. “Maybe… oh well, your own choice, I suppose. You’ll attack me directly, using Battle Teleportation you’re currently holding.”

“What?” Divine could not believe his ears, looking between his card and the smiling woman. “How – you must’ve cheated!”

“Or I used psychic powers,” Andromeda laughed. “Or you’re simply that predictable, Divine. A card that gives you a direct attack opportunity if you have exactly one Psychic-Type monster on the field? That’s absolutely a card you’d have, and use judiciously – why go through only six-hundred points of damage when you can attack with two thousand and four hundred? In the right moment in the Duel, I’d be more than dead because of that card. I win, it seems.”

“No, I have to guess yours!” Divine objected with his heart jackrabbiting in the base of his throat. “If we both win -”

“You won’t win,” Andromeda cut him off, and Divine took a step back as he spotted a glint in her eyes. “You wouldn’t have, in any scenario, but I will give you a try, just to prove me right.”

“You’ll use De-Fusion you’re holding to summon another Fusion or Synchro monster!” Divine gambled, a new type of fear entering his bloodstream. This woman… he had once called her a Psychic, but now he could see she was something else – something he had never seen before and, in retrospect, probably shouldn’t have gotten the attention of.

“Wrong,” Andromeda shook her head, and flipped the card around, showing him -

“A blank?” Divine gaped at the card. “You – it was a ruse? You’d attack?”

“I wouldn’t do anything,” was Andromeda’s smug answer. “I wouldn’t do anything, because I’ve already got what I came for here. Croquet?”

“ _The boy is in the car,_ ” the voice from the woman’s watch announced to Divine’s utter horror. “ _Awaiting your orders, ojousama._ ”

“Get it going – I’ll wrap this game in a second, and be coming in hot,” Andromeda smirked at him. “Atem, be a darling?” the monster nodded, and lifted his arms in attack position. “ _Punishment Game - Mind Crush!_ ”

* * *

“Phew, that was a doozy,” Andromeda sank into the car’s seat with a content smile. “I wasn’t completely sure if my bluff would work, but it did!”

“What would you do if it didn’t?” Sitting in the seat opposite to her, Yusei pierced her with an unreadable look.

“Oh, it would’ve worked either way – think about what I said to Divine, word for word,” Andromeda winked at him. Pegasus- _nii_ and Atem- _san_ were much better at initiating these little mind games with their opponents, but Andromeda would like to think she picked up a few pointers along the way.

“You said that if you won, he’d move out of the way, and if he won, you’d move… but you were going on,” it dawned on Yusei, and Andromeda nodded, still smiling.

“It was a win-win game from me, even if my bluff with the blank card didn’t work,” she admitted. “It was Divine’s fault for believing he and I had the same destination, or even the same goal – which reminds me.”

Andromeda stopped there to look Yusei square in the eye, projecting all of her sincerity in her own eyes and hoping Yusei would understand her warning and act accordingly.

“Never, ever accept a game where you don’t know the stakes and the rules beforehand,” she told him quietly. “No matter how innocent the game may seem; particularly not with Crimson Dragon appearing.”

“What does that dragon have with me, and what do you know about it?” Yusei countered, and Andromeda pursed her lips. She hated to admit, but she had absolutely no idea beyond what scant information Judai had told her and internet sleuthing brought.

“Not much,” she said with a heavy sigh, noticing Yusei’s face fall, which only made her feel worse. “I do know people who would know better, and they’ll be coming in a couple of days – you’ll just have to sit tightly until then.”

“I see,” Yusei murmured. “My deck and D-Wheel?”

“Deck can be solved tomorrow already – I’ll pick it up before I go to work,” Andromeda offered. “Croquet will have your temporary ID settled by tomorrow night, so you can pick up your D-Wheel then; I’d pick it up myself, but…” she laughed nervously, “I have no idea how to operate it, so it’ll be safer for you to pick it up.” Then she realized – she hadn’t even introduced herself!

“Oh stars, I’m sorry Fudo- _kun,_ but this dumbass just realized she hadn’t done the introductions! I’m Andromeda Crawford, and the man at the wheel are Michio and Croquet, respectively,” she facepalmed at her own stupidity before pointing out her helpers.

“Andromeda Crawford?” Yusei looked at her. “Pegasus Crawford...”

“My adopted big brother,” Andromeda made a little courtesy bow from her seat. "Now, please let me take care of you, Fudo- _kun_ , at least for a little while. _"_


	5. Trouble comes in marching like a Herald of Gentle Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aki makes her debut, and Yusei and Judai meet for the first - well, technically second - time. Yubel is having too much fun, and Pharaoh and Professor Daitokuji are silent... at least for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, I feel like I overloaded this chapter with puns and references to both original DM and GX... and then I decided to make pun of an anime I _didn't_ watch for the title. I'm an idiot... but I have no regrets.
> 
> Enjoy!

Aki took a step back from the doors as another explosion shook the ground under her – nothing unusual, one would think, seeing as that floor in Arcadia Movement contained Dueling fields, and the members were encouraged not to hold back when they attacked back. However, it was _not_ normal for Divine to come down there at five in the morning and then proceed to utterly _demolish_ every single Duel simulator on the floor, nor was it normal for him to lock everyone out when he knew the members had scheduled appointments in the room.

“Aki- _senpai_ , is Divine- _sama_ alright?” Jun, one of the newest and the youngest recruits she had inspired to join, tugged at her sleeve, eyes shimmering in concern as he held back tears and clutched his deck close to his chest.

“I don’t know yet, Jun- _kun_ , but I’ll try to get through to him,” Aki sighed, touching the hair barrette Divine had given to her to help her regulate her own powers before pulling out Dark Verger. “Everyone, take a step back; I’m breaking through!”

All the present members scattered, most having either seen or heard how dangerously powerful she was, and Aki slapped the card on her Duel Disk, materializing her plant monster.

“Verger, get it,” she ordered it calmly but authoritatively, just like Divine had taught her. _You’re the one controlling them, not the other way around – you have to show them who has the final word,_ Aki could still recall Divine’s words vividly. It had been almost five years since they have met, but she still remembered all the words of advice he had given her clearly, and cherished those little moments when he used to work with her one-on-one.

She did not need that type of guidance anymore, and Divine was more immersed in bureaucracy that came with running an enormous organization Arcadia Movement had become nowadays, but she still sometimes wished they could go back to those days, or if they couldn’t, that she would be able to repay him back for all the good things he had done for her. Now seemed to be the prime time for an intervetion.

“Divine? Divine, are you alright?” she shouted into the crack Dark Verger had made in the door with two light taps, with no reply. Now seriously worried – had Divine accidentally overworked himself, and was now unconscious or hurt? - Aki ordered Dark Verger to completely break the doors apart, which it did with savage glee; the plaster and durable plastic first bent, then flew inward, tearing itself free from the hinges and crashing into the far wall on the other side of the room.

“Divine!” Aki ran in, heart beating rapidly in her chest as she scanned the room for her mentor’s figure. Was he okay?

“Aki,” came from the dark corner, and Aki whirled to see Divine slumped in the corner, his Duel Disk deactivated and no monsters in sight. “Aki what are you doing here? You were supposed to be - ”

“Several members told me you locked yourself in and weren’t coming out, I was worried!” Aki shook her head as she interrupted him, her anxiety finally easing a bit. Divine did look like he had overworked himself slightly, but it was nothing a quick check-up and a few protein shakes followed by a light nap couldn’t fix. “So I stayed to check up on you – I’ll go out later.”

“Aki,” and now Divine sounded exasperated, which only made Aki pout a little. She was allowed to be worried for her mentor, right? “You are our face – you have to go out and Duel. I’m of less importance right now.”

“No, you’re not! Lily- _chan_ ,” she called out to one of their best healers who loitered at the broken doors after she had gone in, “come here and take care of our leader.”

“Yes, Aki- _senpai_! I’ll take good care of Divine- _sama_!” The teenager, only slightly younger than Aki, rushed up to them and started fussing around the Arcadia Movement leader, Mystical Elf materializing next to her as Lily slapped her card on her Duel Disk.

Aki, now calmer, stepped back and left her leader in Lily’s hands (even though the man protested the treatment), and took a deep breath. She was tasked with going out again, to promote Arcadia Movement and attract everyone like her – but she was now feeling slightly uneasy. Why was Divine behaving in such a brusque manner? Had something gone wrong yesterday? She had heard from the grapevine one of the undercover agents had been in contact with Divine, so it was possible that one of the new leads for a possible Psychic Duelists didn’t pan out – which was a shame – but why would it shake Divine so badly? This wasn’t the first nor the last time someone had either rejected Arcadia (Aki had witnessed the argument Divine had with Andromeda Crawford and Yuki Judai both when they flat out refused to join and in Judai’s case even threatened Divine with an attack) or turned out to be a fake, but it was the first time Divine had behaved in such a way.

What was different about last night’s call?

Still deep in thoughts, she picked up her cloak and mask automatically, removing the barrette and letting her bangs fall freely, and donned the costume of the Black Rose Witch. As she did so, she briefly glimpsed her crimson birthmark, the clawed foot, and hissed, feeling her anger rise within her. The wretched mark, making her life miserable… if only she could take it off, tear it and her skin away until it was gone! Alas, it was impossible, as she had found out after she had taken it to the laser removal specialists shortly before Divine found her – it would be far too dangerous to do anything about it, according to the doctors, and Aki had no wish to die just yet.

Gritting her teeth, she completed her ensemble and power-walked to the basement, which had a tunnel that led directly to the heart of Diamon area. She needed to let out some steam, as soon as possible.

* * *

“Good morning, Fudo- _kun._ Slept well?”

Yusei blearily looked up at the chirpy greeting from his unwitting savior. Andromeda Crawford was perched on the couch in the dining room fused with sitting area, legs crossed, pad on her lap and a two mugs next to her; one filled with what Yusei could assume were artist’s appliances (he had spotted several different pencils, ballpoint pens, brushes and even an honest-to-god calligraphy brush and ink pot) and other a dark steaming liquid – black tea, judging by the lack of distinct coffee smell.

“Coffee or tea?” Andromeda smiled, sympathy in her voice as she gestured at her own mug.

“Coffee, black, no milk or sugar,” Yusei replied after a few seconds of trying to figure out what was she asking him.

“Hayami,” Andromeda called out to her maid, who bowed to her and walked out of the room, before focusing back on Yusei. “She’ll get you a good blend – I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but Pegasus- _nii_ and I played host to coffee addicts so many times we keep good blends around. Sit, and grab a bite.”

Only then did Yusei notice a small heap of food sitting at the dining table – a combination of traditional Japanese breakfast foods and Western fare. It should’ve looked strange – bowls of _miso_ and rice with _netto_ and chopsticks sitting next to bread slices and jams and butter and knife and fork – but after seeing how his room and the entire apartment was designed, Yusei was slowly starting to get used to the extravagant mixes Andromeda Crawford had somehow pulled off without them looking garish.

Who else would be able to design one room to be airy and minimalist, painted in cool cyan and steaks of silver and decorated with mostly steel and glass objects, and then decorate the hallway outside in deep violets and burgundies, with smatterings of what looked like pure gold and tons of thick rugs tossed haphazardly here and there, and still make them look connected?

“Eat up,” Andromeda prodded him kindly with her words to sit down, which he did after a few moments. “I have your deck here; you can have it after the breakfast. I’ll be out of the apartment for most of the day – two back-to-back business meetings – so I’ll just go over couple of rules, that okay with you?”

Yusei nodded, finally picking up a bread slice and slathering it in butter before taking a bit out of it. It was sinfully soft, and the butter melted in his mouth; Yusei had to hold himself back to not sigh at how good the food tasted. Martha was a good cook, but she was limited by what people in Satellite could scavenge from the ingredients; this reminded him of her food, with even more flavor, but still not crossing the line of being too heavy or too much.

“First off, don’t go wandering after dark – we’re in Tops, but you’ll only have a temporary ID until I hash everything out with Godwin’s bureaucrats, and I don’t want you to get into trouble needlessly,” Andromeda’s voice turned sour at the name, and Yusei noted it for the future questions. She apparently did not have good opinion of the man, even though she had called him to get Yusei out of the holding cell – so what was the deal? “Second, my friend Johan will be getting here today, and Judai will likely show up in the next couple of days too – you never know with him – so you’ll be getting all the explanations I promised you, and you’ll be able to pick up your D-Wheel tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Crawford- _san_ ,” Yusei hummed, finishing the bread slice and reaching for the rice bowl. “Anything else?”

“Third, no more Crawford- _san_ ,” Andromeda’s voice was dripping in amusement. “I always think someone’s talking to my brother when they address me like that. Andy and Meda are both perfectly fine, since my full name can be a bit of a mouthful.”

 _Anduromeda… yes, it is a bit of a mouthful,_ Yusei frowned as he tried to pronounce her name in his head.

“Andy- _san_ …” Yusei spoke it out loud to see if it felt right, and it did.

“Better, right?” Andromeda giggled. “Oh, hello Hayami – Fudo- _kun_ , your coffee.”

Yusei blinked as the maid from before appeared at his side, a steaming pot of coffee and a matching cup already filled with the said black liquid resting on the tray in the maid’s hands. He carefully pushed away several dishes so the maid could deposit the tray in front of him, and nodded his head at her.

“Thank you.”

The maid smiled, pink flush appearing on her cheeks, and stepped back.

“Thank you, Hayami,” Andromeda echoed his thanks and stood up. “You’re dismissed for now. Have a good day, Fudo- _kun_.” She left his deck next to him on the table and walked over to the doors.

“Yusei,” Yusei suddenly blurted out, feeling a little uncomfortable correcting his elder. “Just Yusei is fine.”

“Oh, alright,” Andromeda’s grin made a full comeback and turning her eyes into near-crescents. “One warning, though – Judai- _kun_ likes to appear from the thin air, so don’t be too surprised if he just materializes out of nowhere here in the apartment… Yusei- _chan._ ”

And before Yusei could get his head wrapped around the suddenly too-familiar address (dear stars, he was _eigh_ _teen_ , not a child – why would a grown woman call him with a honorific reserved for girls and _kids_?!), she disappeared, closing the door behind her and leaving him in the empty room.

“What the...”

Yusei trailed off, still in shock. This woman just kept shattering all of his expectations, and it wasn’t as if he had many to begin with!

“Yep, that’s Andy- _san_ for you,” an amused chuckle came from behind him, and Yusei whirled in his seat, arm reaching out for the topmost card of his deck – Speed Warrior, by the feeling of it. “In one minute and out the next.”

The guy was leaning on the door that Yusei came through from the guest bedroom: a little slumped, dressed in a uniform-like red jacket that for Yusei for some reason thought should be familiar and dark pants, with a sack-like backpack resting on the floor and a fat tabby cat rubbing her head against his ankles, he looked like someone who had just walked out of university class.

“Who’re you?” Yusei asked, the fingers still on the card, ready to call on help.

“Yo, no need to be twitchy, Yusei,” the guy laughed, lifting his head and removing his dual-toned brown hair from his brown eyes so Yusei could see the amusement in them. “Andy- _san_ just told you about me.”

_Just… told him…?_

Yusei blinked as the dots connected in his head.

“You’re… Yuki Judai, right?”

“Gotcha!” Judai saluted sloppily with two fingers, an enormous grin appearing on his lips. “Nice to meetcha, Yusei – haven’t seen you in a long, long time! Or, well, technically...”

 _Do not, Judai,_ Yusei heard a female voice from somewhere near Judai, and after a smack sounded Judai rubbed the back of his head somewhat sheepishly. Yusei narrowed his eyes, focusing on the other: something was off about him… he couldn’t pin the sensation down exactly, since he had never felt anything like that before, but he knew something was up.

“Okay, never mind me and my blabbering - ” Judai started, but Yusei interrupted him.

“Who was that?”

* * *

“Who was what?” Judai decided to play dumb, but judging by Yusei’s eyes darknening, it was not fooling him. Judai sighed internally; he’d forgotten just how sharp Yusei was in the past twenty years. Well, technically they haven’t met yet – the time loop was still not closed, and with what Johan had told him, it was even threatening to collapse at this point – but Judai did remember him, and being on the other end of that sharp glare was not a nice experience.

_Wonder how Paradox didn’t end up being scared stiff of both his and Yugi-san’s glares back then_ , he chuckled to Yubel, who only smirked at him as she stepped back, partly de-fusing their connection so she could appear to him as a spirit and not just as part of his now-combined soul.

_What does a man whose only goal was to destroy have to fear from humans?_

Alright, Yubel had a point  there – the guy literally only had one thing in mind, so the potential death by glares from a Signer and a vessel of Nameless Pharaoh would not rate on his list of things he’d be fazed by.

Out of the corner of his eye Judai spotted Yusei looking between him and a spot where Yubel should be, and his heart skipped a beat. Could… could Yusei see Yubel, as well as hear her? Had his Signer powers already started kicking in, or was it the side-effect of Psychic powers he had apparently picked up somewhere between their last meeting and now?

“Er, Yusei, whatcha looking at?”

“Her – him – them?” Yusei struggled with the pronouns as he pointed at Yubel, and Judai would have felt more of a sympathy for him (Yubel’s gender was _difficult_ to pin down if you weren’t already aware of her story) if he wasn’t busy freaking the fuck out – this hadn’t happened last time! At least, Yusei had given no indication he could see Yubel, though he had believed him on his word when he explained her existence then with almost suspicious ease…

Was the time loop already damaged beyond recognition – meaning he would get a earful from the Chronograph Sorcerer and all the affiliated time-manipulating monsters, because apparently being the Herald of Gentle Darkness also meant taking care of active time loops –  or could he, Johan and Andromeda still influence the time stream enough to make things end in the same spot? By the Ra and all the other Gods, Judai’s head had  _not_ been calibrated for taking care of time-related bull…

_One could argue your head isn’t calibrated for anything other than Dueling and not answering your friends in time._ Yubel, damn her to the Netherworld, was having way too much fun right now at his expense.

“Yubel!” he whined stretching out the last syllable of her name, ditching the pretense of normality as he still tried to find a way to deal with this situation without tipping Yusei off about their time-traveling shenanigans. He was pretty dumb and not capable of fully understanding the time-space continuum rules, but even the dumbass like him knew not to mention time loop to those who experienced it before the loop closed – if it closed at all, but Judai benched that worry for another day, when he wasn’t freaking out so much.

“Yubel?” Yusei asked, and Judai took the unwittingly offered distraction with glee and thinly veiled relief.

“Yep – Yubel. She’s my...” here he stopped searching for the right word for Yubel. _Partner_ didn’t even begin to cover what Yubel was to him, and _lover_ would be a misnomer, in spite of the fact their souls were literally fused together for all eternity. “She’s my everything, for ever and forever.”

“Like a spouse,” Yusei half-asked, half-concluded, and Judai shook his head. He was so bad at explaining this…

“Not really. She and I fused our souls together,” he told him once-was would-be friend – hopefully they’d be able to reconnect, Judai found Yusei to be a fun and reliable friend to have around, plus Yubel approved of him, “and now we’re fated to be with each other until I die, and will be reborn together.”

Yusei hummed, and Judai could all but hear the gears grinding those sharp and clever indigo eyes that saw way too much sometimes, which made him crack a grin again. Oh how much he missed the stoic, silent boy who only needed the right question to turn into a chatterbox – he reminded him of a time when he thought he had to take everything on himself, only to discover he and Yubel worked perfectly together, and that Johan was still a friend he could call at any time and for whatever reason. He was older now, more used to playing nice with others and not shouldering everything on his own, but the reminders never failed to  make him  smile in nostalgia.

_You miss those times?_ Yubel sounded a little surprised – and Judai could understand her confusion.

Not many people would miss the times when the world rested on their shoulders, when their fated partner had possessed and almost tortured their best friend… but Judai wasn’t the most people. He forgave Yubel everything a long time ago – her malice was not inborn, but born out of her own desperation to be reunited with him – and Johan had also long since forgiven Yubel using him as a pawn to get into Judai’s head (Crystal Beasts were a bit of a tougher case there, still somewhat suspicious of Yubel, but that was to be expected),  so there was nothing terribly tainted about his memories from his days in Academia. Sure, he could’ve done without Yusuke and Nightshroud’s meddling in his final year, not to mention the terror he lived under constantly during his second year and the surge of Society of Light, but he wouldn’t have reconciled with everyone after the stint as Supreme King and gotten Neo Spacians any other way, so he refused to focus on the bad.

Yubel sighed, sounding a little like an exasperated mother as she got all of Judai’s jumbled-up thoughts, but let go of the subject in favor of inspecting Yusei.

_So, you can see and hear me,_ Yubel addressed the only outsider in the room, and Yusei nodded.

“It makes my head hurt, though,” Yusei admitted bluntly, and Judai chuckled. “You’re fuzzy, Yubel – like a bad-quality image.”

“Well, she is a Duel Spirit, but she’s been fused with me for so long, even the most experienced people get a little dizzy around her, so no worries,” Judai reassured Yusei, mindlessly picking up Pharaoh and petting him, causing the fat little tyke to purr like an engine. He had no idea how the cat survived to this day, but he wasn’t going to look into gift horse’s mouth. “Johan is the only one completely used to her, but Johan’s always been a bit of special case.”

_Johan is its own set of scales,_ Yubel agreed, and Judai snorted.

“Johan being the same Johan Craw – Andy- _san_ mentioned was coming in today?” Yusei corrected himself with the address, still looking a little uncomfortable with it, so Judai decided to take pity on the poor soul – Andy- _san_ could definitely be a little much sometimes.

“Coming in today? Wow, he must’ve booked the first flight to Japan,” Judai mused. “Well, better for me, I guess.”

_Or Andromeda hired a private jet,_ Yubel suggested with a smirk, and Judai facepalmed.

“Or that. I always forget just how rich she actually is – then again, it’s difficult to remember anyone’s wealth when you have Kaiba- _san_ as the comparison,” Judai chuckled at Yusei’s wide eyes. “Whatever you’ve heard about Kaiba- _san_ ’s extravagance, I can promise you that the truth is even more extravagant than the rumors.”

“The dragon jet...” Yusei trailed off, and Judai exploded in laughter. Why was that one always the first question people asked?

“Been in it, and yes, it’s modeled after Blue-Eyes,” Judai snickered, barely able to speak though laughter. “Space station for Dueling is also not a rumor.”

Yusei looked like he wanted to die of embarrassment – he probably idolized the man, like many Duelist hopefuls, Judai himself included until he actually met the man and realized how utterly obsessed and extra he was – so Judai decided to switch the topic of the conversation to Dueling.

“So, I see the Deck, but do you have a D-Wheel?” Judai had such fond memories of that elegant, red monster that made his heart burst and head spin from the sheer adrenaline of going at speeds that would almost certainly guarantee a crash if the damage became too severe.

“I’ll be picking up when I get the temporary ID settled,” Yusei answered, and Judai hummed.

“’Kay. Johan also mentioned something about some kid making contact with him… Can I follow you when you go pick up your D-Wheel?”

Yusei took a few moments to mull over the prospect, and Judai prayed in his head as he waited for the answer.

“Do you know Neo Domino’s layout?”

“Sure do!” Judai sent him a winning grin. He did _not_ return to Neo Domino several years ago just have that little spat with Divine and later on with Godwin (though it was a nice bonus) after all – it was also to familiarize himself with the city he once knew and now could barely recognize under all the lights and new buildings.

“Then okay.”

“Yosh!” Judai pumped up his fist. “Now, can I talk with your monsters a bit? Mine are a little eager to meet you...”

Hane Kuriboh had been pestering him for a meeting  from  the moment they appeared in the room after all, and he was  so, so  weak against his partner’s huge, pleading eyes.

_Judai,_ Yubel shook her head, but did not comment further, re-fusing with him and letting him continue the meeting without her interference.

“Okay,” Yusei nodded and scooted his chair away, clearing space for Judai to drag another chair to and sit down. Judai gladly took the offering, aware he was grinning like a loon.

Sue him – he was excited to finally re-meet Yusei properly; no one would fault him for being eager, right?


	6. The beginning of the end (of their innocence)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yusei, Judai and Johan form (almost) a squad to take on Tetsu, Divine and Daimon plan, and Rua and Ruka listen closely to the strange sounds.
> 
> Light warning: implication of assassinations/deliberate kills done by a minor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I have reactivated my [ Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/projectemmatyler) account, where I'll posting my original art and fanart (which will also be crossposted here on AO3 as separate fic). I'll also be posting some possibly spoilery/telling art there, which will be put under Read More tag and not crossposted here on AO3. If you want to see them, they'll be under #spoiler tag, and you can also go and give your guesses both here and there!
> 
> My special thanks to the faithful reviewers Kpop_Itsgreat963 and Mathemagician93, and all of you who kudo'ed my work either as guests or as AO3 users - you always make my day, and help me with continuing this fic!

It was rare that Johan could be taken off guard – he _was_ best friends with Yuki Judai after all, and the only way you could describe him was both chaos magnet and seeker incarnate – but he still nearly tripped all over himself when Judai let him into Andy- _san_ ’s apartment and saw a cute, hedgehog-inspired monster with nuts and bolts all over him balancing a tray with all sorts of biscuits and cookies on it as it walked around the apartment.

“Judai, what’s this?” He asked the most obvious culprit, feeling his own sanity dying slowly as Ruby peeked from behind his collar.

“Don’t look at me, I’m just helping Yusei with training!” Judai raised his hands, eyes devoid of the telltale golden or dichromatic red and green hue that would indicate he was actively tapping into the powers of Gentle Darkness, and pointed at the only other occupant of the room, who looked like he was eyeballs deep in whatever he was doing on the laptop. “He’s a Psychic _and_ sensitive to spirits, but his balance checks are all screwed – so I have to help readjust them to more cozy level.”

“Psychic _and_ sensitive to Spirits?” Johan raised an eyebrow at that. It was an unusual combination of powers, that was for sure, and in its essence very, very unstable – they clashed on all levels, with Psychic powers utilizing mind-generated energy to solidify what was already there and spirit powers dragging things from another dimension into this one. Johan could immediately see why would Judai want to help the kid re-calibrate himself – if he didn’t, they’d risk one of those powers either completely abandoning him or going supernova at the least opportune moment and creating who knows what amount of damage.

Just to prove him right, the tray wobbled as the hedgehog flickered in and out of existence, and its summoner – Yusei, by the looks of it – scrunched his face in an unmistakable expression of pain, and Johan winced in sympathy and made a note to speak with Yusei as well.

“Hello, I’m Johan Andersen,” he introduced himself to Yusei, and the man nodded at him, taking a swing out of his mug before returning to the laptop.

“Andy- _san_ told me you were coming,” Yusei spoke softly as he relieved the tray from his hedgehog monster and released him. “Thank you, Quillbolt.”

“You’re not bad with controlling your Psychic powers,” Johan said, trying for a good opening and feeling a little awkward – judging by Judai’s badly concealed snickering, he was not hiding it well, and Johan nailed him with a look.

“I lived in Satellite, I had to,” Yusei murmured, not looking up from the laptop, before freezing as he looked at his feet where his Ruby was rubbing her head against his shins.

“Ruby! Come over here, you rascal,” Johan hissed at his partner, flush climbing up his neck and blooming under the skin of his cheeks as he chased after the unruly Gem Beast. Ruby was, as per usual when she finds someone who can see or sense her, not cooperative at all – she instantly climbed up Yusei’s leg and made herself a bed out of his spiky and messy black hair.

“Ruby,” Judai, damn him to the pits of the Dark World, was now laughing out loud while Hane Kuriboh was flying around his head and squeaking out encouragement to Ruby. “Yusei’s hair is not a mattress.”

“Ruby?” Yusei repeated, gently detaching Ruby from his hair and holding her out to Johan to pick her up, which Johan did gratefully, bopping her on the nose to show her she did something bad.

“Ruby Carbuncle, my partner,” Johan explained, wanting to know more about the man Godwin had contacted him for. “And you said something about a satellite – what does a satellite have to do with anything?”

“You… You’re not from Neo Domino,” Yusei frowned, staring Johan straight into the eyes, and Johan had to push down a shiver. He could sense something otherworldly about Yusei, something he had sensed before from Yugi- _san,_ Pegasus- _kaicho_ and Kaiba- _san,_ and to a degree Judai… some sort of destiny that he somehow managed to walk into without knowing the full details.

_Again._

Mentally groaning, he answered Yusei’s question.

“Yes, I’m not from Neo Domino – I’m from Denmark,” here he smiled at Yusei’s widened eyes. He liked pulling a fast one over people, particularly since he had no identifiable foreigner accent due to his long friendships with native and near-native speakers of Japanese and had slightly slanted eyes that often got him teased as ‘Asian kid’ back in middle school. “So could you explain?”

“Satellite is an area separate from Neo Domino, but still under Neo Domino’s governing,” Yusei explained, Judai’s face darkening at the topic. Johan’s alarm klaxons instantly lit up; even though he could not see Yubel or feel her around, this was an expression he associated with her. “It was once part of Domino, but then a disaster happened and it split the city in two. The people who got stuck there were left to fend for themselves with half-ruined buildings, and later the city started deporting criminals there, so...” Yusei shrugged, and Johan was left feeling rather nauseous as the full picture started assembling in his head.

Half-ruined buildings, the dangerous people, and living there the entire life – yes, Johan could see why and how Yusei managed to fine-tune his powers to the point where he could only release it in small bursts (though he could also see the problems down the line because of this control – he was _so_ glad Andy- _san_ picked him up before anyone else).

“That’s terrible,” Johan said quietly, patting Ruby who had gotten quite still in his arms, no longer wriggling – she must’ve sensed the outpouring of darkness from Judai and Yubel as well.

 _It is, Johan. To think humans would treat each other like that simply because the Fate had not favored them at one point in life is deplorable,_ Amethyst Cat growled at the back of his mind, the other Gem Beasts joining her in voicing their disbelief and anger. _Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do,_ Johan sighed and looked back at Yusei, who did not seem perturbed by what he’d just unloaded on Judai and Johan.

“I lived through it,” the black-haired man shrugged. “It’s not so terrible when you have friends by your side.”

At the mention of friends his voice trailed off and eyes grew glassy. Picking up on the suddenly melancholy mood, Johan left him alone to be comforted by his own hedgehog monster and tugged Judai away in the corner, ignoring the hisses from his monsters as he was enveloped in the darkness surrounding his best friend. Upon closer inspection it wasn’t as bad as it could be – Judai was still firmly in control of both himself and Yubel, no heterochromia or gold overriding his hazel eyes, and the darkness was steeped with protectiveness, not killing intent.

Yet.

“Judai, what’s the deal with the kid?” he whispered, taking advantage of Yusei’s distraction. “Why did Rex Godwin send me that footage?”

“According to the message Andy- _san_ left, he’s one of servants of Crimson Dragon on top of being Psychic and spirit-sensitive,” Judai said darkly. “That would automatically place him under Godwin’s sphere of influence, but Psychic powers mean Arcadia Movement will start sniffing around as well, and you _know_ what kind of things Divine is capable of.”

Johan gulped, nodding as he recalled the last time he had spoken with the said leader, and the offer he had given them. His Gem Beasts were his family, his closest confidants, not tools to be used in warfare!

“That’s why she called me in, to give Yusei a rundown of everything related to Crimson Dragon – Quertzalcoatl, and keep him away from those creeps.” Judai was now dead serious. “Him, and anyone else whose powers rely on Spirit World in any capacity.”

“Then it’s a good thing I got an email a few days ago from a certain Katayagi Rua about his sister’s spirit-seeing powers having gone haywire in the past and now showing the similar symptoms again, isn’t it?” Johan said quickly, noting from the corner of his eyes Yusei returning back from the land of memories.

Judai’s answering grin said everything Johan needed to know.

“Hey, Yusei,” Judai said lazily over Johan’s shoulder, “you have your temp ID, right?”

“I do.”

“Well, how about three of us go and pick up that D-Wheel of yours, hmm?”

Johan turned to Yusei with a burst of speed he had no idea he had in himself. He had a _D-Wheel?_ How in the Ra’s name did he manage to find a whole, functioning D-Wheel when he professed to living in a slum?

* * *

  
“You!”

“Me, officer Ushio.”

Tetsu Ushio had to give his absolute best not to smash the Satellite punk into a paste. He _dared_ to waltz into Neo Domino Security’s warehouse with all the confiscated items and request a return of his D-Wheel after all the mess he’d made? After causing his demotion, damaging the Kaiba Dome and running out of the Satellite? That should’ve been clear grounds for instant arrest!

Unfortunately, the punk had a legitimate – if temporary – Neo Domino-issued ID, plus a letter of patronage from Andromeda Crawford (and if that wasn’t mind-blowing, Tetsu didn’t know what was), so there was no legal basis for detaining him if he cooperated and broke no laws.

Now, Tetsu would’ve found a way to get him to do it eventually, if not for the company he kept. If letter of patronage wasn’t shocking enough, then Yuki Judai and Johan Andersen showing their mugs and chatting with the punk like they were bosom buddies would definitely do the trick. There was no way Tetsu was going to be pulling anything around them – the rumor mill swirling around the two spoke of people being quite literally scared to death if they crossed either of the Duelists, and Tetsu’s own run-in with strangeness during his youth (he still couldn’t recall exactly what happened, but he did remember the terrifying shadows, a knife and a glint of gold) ensured he’d avoid putting himself into harm’s way.

That did not, however, mean he’d have to be nice to the punk.

“Fine, I’ll get you your damn D-Wheel,” he mumbled as the order got passed onto his PDA, confirming punk’s request. “But you’re getting it down yourself – I’ve got other things to do.”

The punk did not say anything – small mercies that he was not the mouthy type, he could never stand neither them nor the crybabies – and followed him to the elevator, leaving Yuki and Andersen at the front desk to chitchat with the nearby paper-pushers. They remained completely quiet as they rode the elevator to the top floor and walked up to the place where the D-Wheel was parked, up until he swiped the lock away and turned to the punk with a grin he knew was malicious.

But hey, we was entitled to at least a little bit of revenge after that stunt the punk pulled in the pipeline, right?

“The warehouse closes in half an hour,” he told the punk, who was just listening calmly. Not that it would last, Tetsu thought. “You are forbidden to use the elevator to get the D-Wheel down, and the keys for the platform have gone missing.” _More like I’ve snagged the keys away from the supervisor and hid them once I saw you come in._ “Good luck getting down, Satellite trash.”

Turning away, he sauntered to the elevator, feeling quite proud of himself. When he got back down, he saw most of his colleagues clocking out, a small swarm still surrounding the Pro Duelist pair who were giving out signatures like they were candy on sale. Rolling his eyes, he set towards his desk to clean it up and prepare for the night shift – today was the all-day shift everyone in the office hated but had to endure every month.

As he was cleaning up, he noticed one of the Pros – Johan Andersen, judging by the teal-colored hair – separate himself from his eager fans and take out one of the cards from his deck. In the next moment, a monster Tetsu was horribly all-too familiar with – Speed Warrior, the punk’s card – appeared at his side, snatched up the card and disappeared.

_What the fuck just happened?_

But before he managed to get his head sorted out and figure out what had happened, a loud roar from above forced him to look up.

“ _Clustering wishes, become new stars of hope! Paint your colors across the Northern sky! Special Summon, Ultimate Gem God – Rainbow Dragon!_ ”

The legendary dragon – and Tetsu wasn’t using this phrase lightly, since he had seen Egyptian Gods and Seto Kaiba’s dragons at work – appeared accompanied by a beautiful simulation of aurora borealis, tail just barely touching the ground and head threatening to crash through the ceiling of the warehouse. Of course, nothing like that would happen, this was just a Solid Vision monster -

A rev of a D-Wheel cut into his thoughts, and Tetsu felt his jaw drop as he saw the punk _ride his D-Wheel down Rainbow Dragon’s spine._ How – what in the world – how was that even fucking possible?! Everyone had heard about Black Rose Witch and her supposed powers, but this – what in the fresh hell was this? How was punk doing it (it had to be him, Andersen had to have given him the card because people would’ve known if he could do thing like things)?

The punk rode down the tail, landed on the ground floor and stopped right in front of Andersen. Tetsu couldn’t see things clearly from his position because the punk’s back was turned to him, but he did spot Andersen pocketing a card before the dragon disappeared, leaving the warehouse looking a lot darker and less cramped than before.

 _I’ve gotta pay attention to this punk_ , Tetsu vowed to himself as the said punk rode out of the warehouse, Yuki and Andersen hot on his heels. _I’ll get him to misstep, and then I’ll pack him back to Satellite where he belongs and where he can’t risk anyone’s lives!_

* * *

  
Agent Daimon retreated from the Security warehouse, and trembling dialed the number for his boss. While he normally wasn’t afraid of giving Divine- _sama_ bad news, the people in question never failed to get a violent reaction of him, and Daimon was in no hurry to end up six feet under.

“ _Agent Daimon,_ ” Divine- _sama_ answered after sixth ring. “I presume you have news for me.”

“Yessir,” Daimon nodded even though they weren’t talking on the video line – it was a force of habit. “I’ve been waiting around Crawford property, and managed to identify the man she’d taken in.”

“ _Yes?_ ”

“Fudo Yusei,” Agent Daimon rattled off the data, sounding far more calm than how he felt. “Eighteen years old, male, Satellite-raised though the name Fudo may suggest Neo Domino as his birthplace – I was not able to see the kanji for his name to confirm or disprove his relation to Dr. Fudo – , has a D-Wheel and appears to possess a variation of Junk Deck.”

“ _Interesting_ ,” Divine- _sama_ hummed over the line, the word sounding ominous in Daimon’s ear. “ _Any other pertinent information?_ ”

“Sir, he… he has a letter of patronage from Andromeda Crawford, and...”

“ _Yes, I’m aware she placed him under her own. Anything_ _else_ _?_ ”

“He...” Daimon gulped, preparing himself for the outburst. “He seems to have fallen into the company of Yuki Judai and Johan Andersen, sir. They are both presently in Neo Domino.”

A silence rang across the line, and Daimon started praying for both his own safety and the safety of anyone and anything near his boss. He did not even need to imagine what kind of things happened when that duo was in town – he had seen the consequences first-hand three years ago, after Divine- _sama_ cornered Yuki and Andersen after one of the tournaments ended – and now he could only hope he wouldn’t get a repeat performance.

“ _Crawford, Yuki and Andersen are all working together?_ ” Divine- _sama_ ’s voice was quiet, but deadly, and Daimon closed his eyes.

“I does appear so, sir. They came out of Crawford’s apartment together with Fudo, and are currently leaving the Security warehouse with him on the D-Wheel and them in the car.”

“ _.._ _they’re separate?_ ”

“As of this moment sir, yes,” Daimon confirmed, already dreading the next order.

Surprisingly enough, Divine- _sama_ said nothing for a few seconds.

“ _Very well. I’m reassigning you to the cover duty, agent Daimon._ ” Cover duty was only a fancy wording for babysitting, and Daimon gulped. This wasn’t as bad as what he thought he would get, but it was still very, very bad. “ _Skyborn will take care of the rest, you monitor her._ ”

“Yessir,” Daimon said, feeling numb.

“ _Good._ ”

And the line was cut short.

Daimon lowered the phone from his face, eyes still closed as he processed the order given. This wouldn’t be the first time someone had been ordered to kill another to protect Arcadia – in fact, Yuki and Andersen were lucky they didn’t live in Neo Domino full time because they would’ve become a viable target much earlier – but it still made him nervous. So many things could go wrong: Skyborn could miss (unlikely, but possible), Yuki and Andersen could defend themselves (which was also a big possibility), their recruit hopeful Fudo Yusei could get caught in the crossfire and get injured, or worse killed…

However, this was Skyborn – that girl was pro in the assassinations, having already gotten rid of over a dozen people, despite not yet being legal for drinking. Plus, he was there to ensure Fudo would survive, no matter what – it did pay off having a Cure-Burn oriented deck. It was almost antiquated in comparison to many modern tactics – Rebecca Hawkins, its pioneer and biggest user, had long since stopped attending pro scene and opted only for the occasional showcase Duel or a special closing or opening – but Daimon liked it. Being able to convert damage into his own strength and deal that damage right back to the opponent was the way he lived his life, and finding out he could Duel in the same way definitely helped him stay in the game itself.

Now, he only needed to rendezvous with Skyborn and keep an eye on Fudo Yusei to spirit him away at the last second.

Easy.

* * *

  
“Rua,” Ruka looked up from the homework they had been assigned for the next day. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Rua frowned, looking around and straining his ears. The twins occasionally left the balcony doors that led to the pool open to catch some fresh air and listen to what was happening around them. It was a genius way of keeping up with the rumor mill (not that their parents knew, but what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them) without ever having to step out and break their promise to Mum and Dad about leaving the apartment without anyone and finding out firsthand if some trouble was happening in the neighborhood.

Of course, them living in the Tops all but guaranteed they were far from anything _really_ interesting (like Black Rose Witch) happening, but Rua still liked knowing things that happened outside their little safe bubble, and Ruka liked it too despite never saying it out loud.

“It sounded like -”

_Bang!_

This time, both Rua and Ruka jumped, Rua clutching his heart as he rushed over to his sister. What in the world was that, and why was it heard in the Tops? This was supposed to be the safest, most protected part of Neo Domino, so why were they hearing explosions?!

“Ruka, you alright?”

“M-hmm, I’m fine, just a little startled,” Ruka said in a sotto voce, eyeing the glass floor-to-ceiling windows with mistrust as she accepted Rua’s brief hug. Frankly, Rua couldn’t blame her, for he felt the same thing; the sound did feel like it had come from way beneath them, but still. He’d watched way too many movies to take things for granted after a sound of explosion, and those glass windows would be the first to go if someone decided to attack them.

“Hey, Ruka,” he said after a few moments of stillness, when no sirens or any other sounds followed up on the bang, “you can talk to the monsters: could you send them to the lobby to check if -”

“If whatever happened was near ours?” Ruka finished his sentence, and Rua grinned, his heart skipping a beat. His sister was always the special one: superb Duelist for her age, could talk to the monster Spirits, had that weird red mark on her right arm… was sickly. Rua frowned at the mental list as he realized how different they were; in all honesty, maybe they shouldn’t have been siblings let alone twins, but they were, and Rua was happy with every moment he got that proved they were similar. Twin-talk, Ruka relying on him to get things finished and for support during Duels – he took anything he could, and yet…

Nope, he wasn’t gonna think about this further. After all, they had a mystery of a strange sound to investigate!


	7. The shades of Light, Dark and Illusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skyborn gets a little bit of screentime, Yusei lands in Rua and Ruka's care, and GX pair plus Andromeda set out to track Yusei down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little later then normal, but I was in too much pain to write - am still in pain as I'm writing, but it's more manageable now, and before you ask, it's lower back pain. I literally couldn't sit, people :) But at least I finished my chappie and got it out, right?
> 
> Bonus points for everyone who spots cameos and references to YGO characters!

“ _Moshi-moshi_ ,” Skyborn said into her phone, gasping for breath and holding her ribcage with one arm. That man had gotten her _good_ – or was it his monster? Her reading of him was terribly skewed at best, and she couldn’t help but curse those who gave the boss idea for this mission. Did they send her in with lacking information?

“ _Skyborn,_ ” one of the chief handlers of the offense division, Lightstage, replied, sounding snappish. “ _What in gods’ names is going on_ _with you_ _? You had the easy mission!_ ”

“With all due respect sir, that statement in on itself is _bullshit_ , the mark is Psychic and no one told me,” Skyborn narrowed her eyes as she wedged the phone between her shoulder and ear to inspect a rust-red blot on her pant leg – blood, but from a scrap, so nothing to worry about immediately. “The mark’s monster blocked me and fired back my own attack – must be its in-game effect.”

“ _That – the mark doesn’t have a monster like that!_ ” Lightstage hissed, venom dripping from his voice. “ _He runs Heroes and Neospace deck, and none of the registered cards he used in tournaments have that effect. If you fucked up on purpose -_ ”

“I _don’t_ fuck things up on purpose,” Skyborn said with a growl, shoulders stiffening and sending a jolt of pain through her torso as she jostled her injured ribs. “And I’m telling you, that monster sent my attack back to me, I was lucky I managed to summon another monster to protect me – plus, it didn’t look like any Hero archetype I know of. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it’s a Fiend Type.”

She had faced off against D-Hero user in the past (and barely got away with her skin intact, she recalled with a shudder – the man was _not_ happy to see her try to collapse a building on him), and one of the newer members of Arcadia ran the E-Hero deck, so she knew her things. Plus, that creepy, winged creature she could not distinguish the gender of had the aesthetics strange enough for a Fiend Type, and Heroes weren’t Fiends as far as she knew.

“ _Fiend Type?_ ” her supervisor sounded quite surprised, confirming Skyborn’s suspicions of the mission – they sent her in without all the info. “ _Wha – no matter. Where are you?_ ”

“Stuck in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere in downtown area,” Skybron said testily, checking around herself. After barely getting away from the chase the monster and her mark had given in the Tops, she managed to find some refuge in the downtown area and its numerous alleys. It wasn’t quite as bad as Daimon area, but still bad enough that no one sane would question why was there a hunched, robed figure sitting midst the trash. “I’ll get back to Arcadia on my own later.”

“ _Alright. But don’t expect the boss to be too happy with you._ ”

“No shit,” Skyborn sighed as she heard the click of the cut phone line. “When is Divine- _sama_ ever happy with failures?”

Skyborn had lucked out in the past – none of the messes and failures were her fault, but she knew that nothing good came out of failing Arcadia’s objectives. Some of the more superstitious members, drawn in by the promise of their powers being the the gift of gods and therefore making them special, believed the wrath of gods, for whom Divine claimed to speaking, came upon anyone who failed.

Skyborn knew better that to believe in that nonsense.

Just like the poster girl Black Rose, Skyborn had been recruited personally by Divine, but unlike her she had never given into the whole ‘mystical powers’ angle. Yes, Psychic powers were still untested by scientific community, but it was obvious they could be tracked down, tested and ranked based on initial power and training. From that fact alone, Skyborn could infer the powers did have some rhyme and reason when they appeared; and after sneakily looking into her family history – or, what little she could find that was left over from Security’s interference and Zero Reverse – she could bet the powers were transferable down the bloodline, further disproving the idea of godly interference of any kind.

But oh well: if she had to spout rubbish on occasion in exchange for warm place to stay at, purpose to live for and go on exciting adventures, she’ll take it any day. Everything was better than that orphanage, where she only survived, but never lived. Would her parents be proud of her?

Hiroto Sunako liked to think so. Even though her parents hadn’t been as important in the history of Neo Domino, she could imagine them watching over her, watching her change the world step by step with the powers she must’ve gotten from them, and smiling at her.

Drawing a card, she smirked at the draw. _Darklord Morningstar_. How fitting, to draw the card of the first Fallen. Standing up, she checked her surroundings before setting off to the mouth of the alley. Just as she turned the corner, she narrowly missed a collision with a scruffy-looking man.

“Hey, watch it,” the man said in an undertone, obviously not looking for any escalation of trouble, which suited Skyborn just fine – she was in no condition to fight right now.

“You too,” she replied back and swished past him, noting his fading yellow jacket and lack of Mark that would give him away as a criminal. So, a guy down on his luck, huh? Skyborn was doubly glad she had taken up on his proffered olive branch and had not caused a scene – she didn’t mind the Security, but living in these parts was not easy if you didn’t ‘prove’ yourself, and not having a Mark could more often than not be a detriment. She didn’t have a habit of catching innocents in her missions, and she wasn’t about to start now.

* * *

_What happened to me?_

Yusei came to a blur of voices and a light touch to his forehead. Deciding not to open his eyes just yet, he relaxed and listened to the male and female voice argue, with other male and female voices chipping in on occasion and making strange _kuri-kuri!_ noises.

“But you said - ”

“I know, but still… that injury… it looks a lot like a Mark, right?”

“I thought you couldn’t take away the mark, not even with laser!” the child-like male voice spoke, sounding a little alarmed. “I mean - ”

“I know Rua,” the child-female said with a heavy sigh. “But his monsters are adamant their master is not a criminal at all, and that the injury is just a product of shrapnel breaking the D-Wheel visor.”

_D-Wheel?_ That rang somewhere in Yusei’s mind.  _Right, I have a D-Wheel YuseiGo, which I…_ and here he ran into a mind block. Did he have an amnesia? Trying to recall how he ended in this place, he was only met with a flash of light and a  _boom_ typical of explosion, in addition to wind pressure. Going any further in his memories proved to be a futile task, since he only ran into more blocks and blank spaces.

_I really do have amnesia_ , Yusei thought with cold realization, his stomach dropping out of his body and heart turning into a ball of lead.

“Okay, yeah, his visor was damaged pretty badly,” the male voice said, dragging Yusei out of his own thoughts. “Then again, that’s kinda visor’s job, right? To protect the rider from worst of the damage?”

“It is, and it would explain that noise we heard,” the female agreed, and a hand landed on his forehead before skating down to his left eye and the patch underneath it. “I only hope the scar, if it ends up happening, isn’t too bad.”

“Don’t want to see a pretty face with a scar?” the male said with a teasing note, before yelping. “Ow, Ruka!”

_Serves him right,_ a chirpy, metallic  male  voice said, and a  replying  _kuri-kuri!_ sounded quite smug.

Storing the names  _Rua_ and  _Ruka_ as the denominators for the two distinctly human-sounding  voices, Yusei opened his eyes and looked around. He was lying on a surprisingly comfy couch  in a open-plan apartment, with lights all dimmed so he could only make out the silhouettes of furniture and  the duo that were talking until that moment.

“Hey, he’s awake!” the boy – and he had to be a kid, Yusei thought as he swiped his eyes over his tiny body, pitched voice and loud color scheme he wore – cheered, nudging the girl at his side. “Ruka, he’s awake!”

“I have eyes, Rua,” the girl replied with a tiny eyeroll, removing her green pigtails away from her face to focus on Yusei. “Are you alright?”

“I think so,” Yusei nodded to her, placing a hand on his cheek and finding the patch she had touched before. It was definitely positioned in a Mark-like way, but Yusei was relatively certain he had never gotten a Mark – well as certain as an amnesiac could. There was just something wrong with the idea of him having a Mark, and a feeling deep inside Yusei told him to trust his instincts. “Where am I?”

“Oh you’re in Tops – the most elite part of Neo Domino!” the green-haired boy – Rua – jumped up from the couch and started pacing around, grinning like loon. “And literally on the top – we’re at the top floor of the most elite hotel in Tops.”

H e pressed a button on a small receiver, and the darkened wall opposite Yusei opened up, revealing itself to be curtains hiding floor-to-ceiling walls that led to the enormous balcony and pool overlooking Neo Domino. Yusei only stared at it for a moment, a bit overwhelmed by the sight.

_This is huge_ , a deep voice came out of nowhere, and Yusei nearly jumped as a small, hedgehog-like creature with nuts and bolts stuck on him appeared next to him.  _Even Illusion Queen’s quarters aren’t this massive._

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” he asked the creature, who wrinkled its nose.

_You don’t recognize me, Master?_

“Master?” Yusei said quietly, noticing how girl’s – Ruka’s – eyes narrowed at their conversation.

_Check your Deck, Master._

More than slightly confused, Yusei went for his deck holder, took out his deck and fanned out the cards. One instantly grabbed his attention – the card of the monster standing next to him. _Quillbolt Hedgehog,_ it read, listing underneath its Level, Effect, Attack and Defense points, Attribute and Type.

“So, you’re a Duel Monster,” Yusei concluded, feeling slightly weirded out. Since when were Duel Monsters alive?

_Since forever,_ a voice at the back of his mind whispered.  _You’ve been able to see them since forever, Star-heart mine._

_Who’re you?_

_You’ll find out soon – or remember me, whichever comes first,_ came the amused answer.  _Now, I do have to rest; contacting your over such distance is exhausting, Star-heart. Come and find me soon – I miss you._

The voice went quiet, and Yusei blinked as he slowly processed what the voice told him.

“I’m sorry,” Ruka startled him out of his thoughts, “but you can see monsters?”

“Eeeh? You can see monsters too?” Rua said with shriek, rushing over to Yusei and nearly bowling him over as Yusei sat up. “Man, why everyone around me has super cool powers, and I don’t?”

“Tenpei doesn’t,” Ruka told him, crossing her arms.

“Tenpei doesn’t count,” Rua pouted at Ruka. “He’s super cool and smart, so he doesn’t need powers.”

“You two live here alone?” Yusei frowned at the duo. He guessed them to be brother and sister due to their similar faces and hair colors, maybe even twins, but they couldn’t be any older than ten or eleven!

“Oh yeah,” Rua smiled sheepishly. “I mean, we occasionally have people over to check up on us from the hotel, since our parents are always away on business trips.”

Yusei felt his frown deepen. He understood that sometimes parents were busy, but leaving kids virtually unsupervised at that age? From Rua’s description it sounded like the kids went down to hotel restaurant to eat or ordered takeout on their parents’ cards… Yusei couldn’t imagine living that lonely.

“Rua, we haven’t even introduced ourselves,” Ruka told Rua, slightly scolding.

“Oh right!” Rua facepalmed. “I’m Rua, this is Ruka. We’re twins!”

Yusei nodded, happy to know his suspicion turned out to be true.

“And you?” Ruka asked gently.

“I’m Yusei,” Yusei said, at least certain in his own name if not in anything else concerning his past. “And I think I have amnesia.”

* * *

  
“You _lost_ him, Judai?”

Judai winced at the scathing tone Andy- _san_ ’s voice took on and shifted his weight where he stood in Andy- _san_ ’s Industrial Illusion’s office.

“Well...”

_We apologize, my Lady,_ Yubel said quietly, phasing out of Judai’s soul so she could come face to face with Andromeda.  _There was an attack on us and Johan-kun, and I prioritized getting Judai away from the mess as unharmed as possible. We lost Yusei in the ensuing scuffle._

“Attack?” Andy’s eyes narrowed, and she sat down at her desk, motioning for Johan and Judai to sit across from her. “Talk to me about it.”

Judai sent a pleading look to Johan, who just shrugged with a resigned look on his face. They had failed to inform their friend about Arcadia’s persistence in recruiting them, and now they had to explain to her why they were targeted by them. No, Judai was not looking forward to this; at least he could also throw Johan under the bus, because if he was going to suffer, his best  friend would as well.

“Well, about that… we kind of forgot to tell you about something - ”

“Let me guess,” Andy interrupted them, a sardonic smile on her face, “they threatened to kill you if you don’t join in and stay in Neo Domino?”

Judai felt his jaw touch the table. How- ?

“You’re not the first nor the last to receive death threats from them,” Andy told them, leaning back in to her chair looking very tired all of a sudden. “And you’re not the first nor the last ones to get that threat fulfilled. I had three attempts in the last year alone.”

“They tried to recruit you?” came out unbidden from Judai’s mouth, because the sheer idea of it was just… no. 

Andy- _san_ was no follower by any definition of that  word – in fact, she would be the worst follower in the world with her tendency to go off on her own and not listen to orders. He had seen her go against Yugi- _san_ ’s commands million times (which included staying in Neo Domino after the Zero Reverse and meddling with Johan’s work), and she actually respected  Yugi- _san_ .

Johan’s choke-spit-take and Yubel’s loud cackle told him he was not alone in his sentiment, and Andy cracked a smile at their reactions before becoming serious again.

“As amusing as shock and disbelief is,” Andy inclined her head, “the question of the attack and Yusei’s disappearance still stays. Have you sustained any significant injuries?”

_No,_ Yubel said sounding disturbingly happy with herself.  _I just send most of her attack right back at her – the bitch was even stupid enough to use Darklord Edeh Arae against me. It was a damn **pleasure** to bust the moron’s ass._

“Darklord archetype? I see,” Andy nodded with a thoughtful look. “So it’s a different person… wouldn’t be surprised if they have an entire division of people specialized for taking out people at this point – both Arcadia and Yliaster, mind you.”

“You had someone else attack you?” Judai’s interest was piqued by Johan’s question.

“Arcadia’s Lightsworn user,” Andy said with pursed lips. “My Sky Soldier – Illusion had the grand time tearing the monster to pieces.”

Judai shuddered at the metion of the name, and spotted a raised eyebrow from Yubel and Johan. Right, he had never told them about Andy- _san_ meeting him and Saio back during his second year in Academia, and no one except his E-Heroes and Neo Spacians witnessed that part of the confrontation.

“Sky Soldier has a beef with Light-oriented monsters, for some reason,” he told them, recalling the incident. “Even though Andy- _san_ had almost single-handedly created Arcana Force cards and helped in Lightsworn mechanics.”

“ _Andromeda Crawford,” Takuma Saio bowed with theatrical flair and a wide grin on his face, which distorted his features to the point Judai could no longer recognize him – the Light of Destruction had taken him over completely. “Come to witness your creation’s great triumph?”_

“ _Arcana Force is not solely my creation,” Andromeda said through her teeth, a card appearing between her index and middle finger. “And I do not consider your Light to be anything other than a blight necessary to balance out the Darkness.”_

“ _Hoh, so you do consider me necessary?”_

“ _The same way I find creepy crawlies and bacteria necessary,” Andromeda said snappishly, still not activating her Duel Disc, which confused Judai of the past a bit. “Sometimes useful, necessary in the grand scheme of things, but I’d prefer them to stay as far away from my neck of woods as possible.”_

_Extending her arm while still holding the card, she flipped it over so Saio could see it._

“ _ **Between Heaven and Hell, balance your scales of karmic justice! Ritual Summon, Sky Soldier – Illusion!** ”_

_The monster that descended on the field was beautiful, to put it mildly: it reminded Judai of the more elaborate, and less armored version of Asuka’s Ritual Angels. It held a golden scepter, two thick golden hoops inside one another, not aligned at the center, and connected to each other with thin golden chains that emulated the sun, and a half-moon on the top; the Greek dress and shoes was silvery-white, and the face – Andromeda Crawford’s face, Judai realized with a chilling horror – was framed by thick, black curls._

_What was that monster, and why did it have Andy- **san** ’s features?_

_Not a moment later, he stopped thinking about it entirely, as the Arcana Force III: The Empress appeared next to Saio, and Sky Soldier instantly attacked her, making Judai shiver._

“ _Oh, I think I failed to mention,” Andromeda’s eyes glinted, “My dear Sky Soldier **hates** Light-oriented monsters specifically.”_

“Yes, she does,” Andy sighed, leaning on the table as Judai finished the recounting of the incident to Johan and Yubel. “And she has a pretty good reason for not liking them – although I do have to say she dislikes Light-oriented Fairy Type the most.”

“Why?” Johan asked, carefully touching his own deck. To the best of Judai’s recollection, none of his monsters were Light Fairy-Type, but -

Wait. What was Ruby’s Type? She was Light, but he couldn’t remember her Type...

_Fairy,_ Yubel reminded him, and Judai winced in sympathy, touching his deck as well to hear Hane Kuriboh chirp happily back at him. He liked his  _aibou_ , and he didn’t want to lose him because Andy- _san_ ’s main monster disliked him.

“An old, old argument with one of the archetypes Pegasus- _nii_ and I never brought over into the game, which ended in bloodshed and extermination of Sky Soldier’s archetype,” Andy shrugged, sounding quite resigned as she smiled at Judai and Johan. “She learned to tolerate the monsters while I handle them, and won’t go after the decks I specifically forbid her to, but… I can’t change her opinions. Saio was damned lucky he was being possessed by Light of Destruction, because after she went through his Deck she’d have gone after _him_.”

“Alright, but what about Yusei?” Judai finally returned the conversation back to where it derailed from.

“Well, I still have that appointment with Katayagi kids, we can start from there,” Johan offered. “The location he listed was not far from the place where we were attacked, so theoretically we could start there.”

“Make a home base and radiate outwards?” Judai said more to himself, checking up on his monsters and their readiness to go into a full sweep of such a huge area. E-Heroes instantly responded, eager for action (Burst Lady, Featherman and their evolved Fusion form Flame Wing in particular were noisy about their willingness to go out), while Neo Spacians were a bit more sluggish, less willing to leave Judai unprotected.

“That’s the plan for now,” Johan nodded, no doubt spotting his little talk. “What does your Deck say?”

“E-Heroes are on board, Neo Spacians would rather protect the base,” Judai relayed the sentiments, and Andy grimaced as she took out her deck from underneath the desk.

“Well, if Neo Spacians are staying, that opens up space for my monsters to go out… I’m assuming Rainbow, Ruby and Amethyst will be also hanging back?” At Johan’s confirmation, Andy fanned out her own deck. “In that case, I’ll send Destiny’s Lover and Gem Prince as backup for them. What do they say?”

Destiny’s Lover? Judai raised an eyebrow at Edo’s card being slid over to him. He knew he had his own, and Gem Prince was Johan’s, so why wasn’t she sending out his card?

“I’m _not_ letting out Evil King or Darkness’ Herald, no offense Yubel, Judai,” Andy snorted when she spotted Judai’s expression. “I’m not about to let out the free access to the power of Super Fusion roam around with both Yliaster and Arcadia on high alert.”

Okay, yeah, good point. Edo’s card suddenly made a whole lot of sense. Tucking the card away after noting its summoning requirement (a card with Hero in its name in the graveyard) , Judai stood up and gestured for Johan to lead the way.

“Let’s pay those kids a visit.”


	8. New directions taken (and path to Hell is paved with good intentions)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack finally starts trusting his gut over his mind, Divine hatches a plan with Aki to ensnare Yusei, and Ruka and Rua have a screaming match over intentions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One good thing about me being late with the update: I managed to time this release with Yusei's birthday! Happy birthday, dear Head Signer of Crimson Dragon!
> 
> This chapter will finally start showing the ripple effect from Yusei's Psychic powers - I wanted to also squish in Yusei/Johan/Judai reunion, but a lovely reviewer doctor1mayuri59 planted an idea for Rua&Ruka subplot that just had to happen in this chapter, so the reunion will be happening in the next chapter.
> 
> As I'm writing this, my country declared two-week emergency state over CoVID-19, meaning jobs are still ongoing, but all schools and unis are closed, and I'm probably not going to go out much except for brief walks and to get school material from local libraries. My once-a-week posting schedule will likely not change, but I'll keep you updated if anything happens. Please, everyone, stay safe and listen to the authorities; it's only together that we can get through this!

Jack stopped mid-gesture in his argument with Godwin as the icy feeling poured down his spine and ended in his Deck pouch on his hip: the same feeling he had back then, when Kiryu went completely insane and he knew something was wrong before Crow and Yusei reached out to him. He hadn’t mentioned to Crow or Yusei, thinking it a one-time occurrence, but after somehow knowing the exact night Yusei would come to Neo Domino, he started paying more attention to it, and found it to be scary accurate in predicting things.

Tugging his deck out of its pouch and fanning it out, he instantly spotted the reason: Stardust’s image in its card had faded away until it was barely more than a silhouette, and a hazy fog of panic made an appearance as he struggled to understand. Why was Yusei’s dragon in this state? Had something happened to him? Was he going to lose him again, this time permanently like Kiryu?

“King?”

Godwin had appeared at his side, and Jack hastily hid all cards and returned them to his pouch – no way in hell was he let the guy look at them, and most definitely not at Yusei’s dragon again. He swore never to use it in a public match that wasn’t against Yusei after he had seen Godwin’s hungry eyes when he presented Red Demon’s and Stardust for inspection – at the time he thought it was his own superiority speaking, but nowadays he wasn’t sure in anything. His wins, his title, his connection to his cards – Yusei and that dragon had shaken him completely, and he needed time to think, not to be pestered every other minute to be King.

“It’s nothing,” Jack said and turned on the heel, Mikage rushing to his side. “I’ll go and prepare for the Fortune Cup and the match with Mukuro, if you so wish it.”

Without waiting for the answer, he stormed out of the Godwin’s office, Mikage on his heels barely keeping up; he slowed a little, but still refused to calm down his raging feelings. Who was this man thinking he was, to order him around after he had basically set Jack to fail? Was Yusei truly the one he had been after all along, but then focused on Jack after seeing Yusei wouldn’t be swayed so easily? Was anything real, at this point?

The faded image of Stardust Dragon taunted him, and he growled and slammed the button for the elevator to take him up to his penthouse.

“Atlas- _sama_?” Mikage panted as she caught up to him, hair escaping her neat hairdo and clothes wrinkled from running. “Cna I help you -”

“No!” Jack snapped at her, and then felt bad as she cowered away from him and dropped her eyes to the ground. She was just one of Godwin’s pawns, like Jack: the only difference was their expendability, and Jack searched for words to make her feel a little better. The image of Stardust appeared in his mind again, and he gave into his own curiosity. “Who would be the utmost authority on cards and Duel Monster spirits?”

“Huh?” Mikage blinked, lifting her head and supporting her chin with her fingers as she thought about his question. “Oh, the cards would be Miss Crawford – she took over Industrial Illusions after her brother died. If there’s anyone who knows everything card-related, it’s her ; she designed a lot of them and approves them before releasing. Duel Monster spirits… well, I don’t personally believe in them, but those who do swear on Johan Andersen’s expertise.”

“They’re definitely real,” Jack said with a huff, amused despite himself – Yusei had made it a point to prove it to them he wasn’t going crazy, even if he had to slam them over the head with it. “Johan Andersen… that name’s familiar. Is he a Duelist?”

“Former European champion,” Mikage confirmed after tapping at her tablet and scrolling through information. “The sole owner of all seven Gem Beast cards and Rainbow Dragon – Pegasus Crawford himself had awarded the deck after he saw him win the tournament and created all the support cards – summa cum laude graduate of original Kaiba North Duel Academy, and one of the biggest patrons of the young Duelists with ‘special powers’.”

“Hoh? Interesting,” Jack smirked as the elevator opened with ding, letting them in. After pressing the button for his floor and scanning his access card, he turned to Mikage. “Is there a way of contacting or tracking him? I’d like to talk to him.”

“Uh, I don’t know…” Mikage muttered, furiously tapping away before her eyes bulged. “He’s in Neo Domino right now!”

“What! How do you know?” Jack leaned down to look over her shoulder at the social media feed.

“His fanpage in Tokyo spotted him in Narita Airport, and then another one stationed here in Neo Domino snapped a picture of him entering Tops residence yesterday afternoon,” Mikage swiped down to show him the image of the man and the profile of the fanpage.

“He has – of course he has bloody fanpages,” Jack snorted when he spied a riot of teal-colored curls framing a wide-eyed and delicate-boned face. “He could pass off as bi-shonen drama lead if he weren’t so foreign-named.”

Because what the fuck, the guy looked right at home in Japan, down to his very looks and the way he dressed. Jack could spot foreign features of course, since he used to look for them in everyone he met to feel a little better about his own foreign-descent status, but otherwise he blended in so well Jack had to feel a little jealous.

“I-if you say so, Atlas- _sama_ ,” Mikage stuttered and continued scrolling through comments and followup shots – some obviously newer and some older, when Andersen was still a teen. It was one of those older ones that caught his attention – it featured two silver-haired men in smart white and purple suits, one silver-haired woman in a show-stopping dark blue dress, Johan Andersen, Seto Kaiba, Yugi Muto, Jounochi Katsuya in their best classic whites and blacks, and a brown-haired guy in a red school uniform. All were smiling, even Kaiba, and touching and looking at each other like they shared an inside joke: Yugi had a hand on the red-uniform man’s shoulder, Pegasus had the arm around the woman’s waist, Kaiba and Jounochi stood back-to-back with Andersen and other silver-haired man crouching in front of them and facing each other.

“What’s that picture?” he stopped Mikage’s scrolling to enlarge the photo.

“Oh, the last World Championships held in Domino, only a month before Zero Reverse,” Mikage said with a smile. “It’s an iconic picture – Kaiba- _kaicho_ , Muto- _san_ and Jounochi- _san_ all retired from professional circuits, and those three took over their places. Edo Phoenix, Destiny Hero,” she pointed at the silver-haired man in the white suit, then at Andersen and finally at red-uniform man. “Johan Andersen, Gem Beast, and Yuki Judai, Elemental Hero and Neo Space. Pegasus- _kaicho_ also used that moment to hand over Industrial Illusions formally to his sister Andromeda – it was like everyone from the first generation took a step back to allow new generation to continue their work.”

“I see,” Jack hummed and righted up as the elevator announced the floor they were supposed to get out at. “Follow the accounts and try to figure out where he is: I need to speak to him, and schedule me a meeting with Andromeda Crawford.”

He needed a clear head for the upcoming two matches against Mukuro Enji and the winner of Fortune Cup, and those two likely had all answers he needed to make it happen. Godwin could obviously no longer be trusted, so he had to take things into his own hands.

* * *

“That is disappointing,” Divine sighed as he watched Hiroto Sunako, codename Skyborn, limp out of his study – a mixture of her prior injuries and ones Divine unleashed on her her failure. “But I suppose Yuki Judai is an impossible kind of target, even for our best.”

“Divine?” Aki peeked in, hair mussed from sleep but clothes intact – so nothing happened out of ordinary during her time in Daimon district yesterday. “Why is Sunako so badly hurt?”

“She was hurt on the mission for Arcadia,” Divine pasted a small, genial smile on his face as he let his his precious Rose inside and showed her to sit. “She underestimated her opponent’s strength, and got hurt in the rebound of Psychic powers.”

“Psychic?” Aki’s dark red eyes narrowed and she leaned forward. “I thought we didn’t attack our siblings by the gods…?”

“This one is no child of gods,” Divine chuckled, all too aware where Yuki Judai’s powers came from. It took him a while to dig it out from Kaiba Corp’s and Manjoume Inc. databanks, but it was all worth it; with the narrative he established with his followers, he could easily say the truth without getting his own lies questioned, which he needed in case of Yuki Judai. “He’s not even fully human – the body may be human, but the soul is that of the reborn King of Nightmares, and it long since erased any light of the gods’ blessing and replaced it with his own darkness.”

“I see,” Aki settled back into her chair, looking more at ease as she took a card out of her deck and twirled it between her fingers – Rose Tentacles. “So you wanted to get him to stop meddling in our business?”

“Worse than that,” Divine leaned forward, laying his bait down gently but with expert touch. Manipulating Aki had become a child’s game, but it still brought such a thrill to keep her in his web. He had so many others, too, but Aki was his pet project and definitely the most powerful Psychic excluding Andromeda Crawford and Yuki Judai, and the possession of that power was a high he didn’t expect to experience but enjoyed in its fullest. “He took in one of our siblings who never had heard of us before, and is turning him against Arcadia.”

“What?!” Aki rocketed up and stalked up to his desk, eyes blazing and hair lifting up as her powers reacted, threatening to escape; Divine drank in the sight and reveled in her fury.

Just a little bit more, and he’d be able to completely have under his control – just a little bit more! But first, he needed to take care of Yuki, Andersen, Godwin and Crawford, and bring in Fudo Yusei to have an upper hand over everyone (and wasn’t finding out the name of his mystery Duelist like a blast from the collective past, one Divine knew he’d use).

“Relax, Aki,” Divine placed his hands on hers, which were clenched in fists and white from the pressure. “He’d been taken out of the prison by our enemies – it’ll be difficult to get him to come to us.”

“Oh, because of the loyalty?” Aki started calming down as she digested Divine’s words. “I see… do you want me to go and talk to him to see if he’d want to come?”

Oh, this was going even better than what Divine had expected – Aki was offering herself for the job before he even mentioned all the obstacles on the way. Thinking about it, he released Aki’s hands so she could sit again. She was a good candidate to approach Fudo and at least get him interested; that failing, he still had a chance to personally approach the boy at the Fortune Cup – there was no way Godwin would not invite him, if only to recruit him for Yliaster from under Divine’s nose.

There was still the third faction to be factored in, though: now that Yuki, Crawford and Andersen have all returned in full force to Neo Domino, things will become even harder, Divine knew. He was very happy the men had mostly stayed out of Japan in general and Crawford had seemingly completely abandoned any and all involvement in the dark underbelly of Dueling in the capital of Duel Monsters, but now he had to watch his every step. The only comfort was the fact Godwin would have to do the same if he wished to stay under their radar.

“Divine, are you okay?”

“Ye-yes, I am, thank you for worrying Aki,” he smiled at Aki. “I was simply contemplating how to let you introduce yourself to Fudo- _kun._ ”

“Fudo?” Aki’s eyes focused on him.

“Mhm, Fudo Yusei,” he riffled through the papers under his desk and brought a thin file out with the boy’s basic information, one picture and the tentative description of powers and personality Agent Daimon had written. He stood up and walked over to her, settling on the arm rest Aki didn’t put her arm on and handed it over to her. “We don’t have a lot on him, be warned – he spent most of his life in Satellite.”

“He’s a criminal?” Aki asked with a slight tone of trepidation, and Divine stroked her shoulder to get her to relax and open the folder.

“No and yes,” Divine shook his head. “From what we know, he ended up there as an orphaned baby, right after Zero Reverse, so he isn’t at fault for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, he did arrive in Neo Domino while breaking rules, hence our enemies getting him out of the prison.”

“I didn’t know that,” Aki murmured and cracked open the file, tracing the blurry image of the serious, blue-eyed and spiky black-haired boy. “I thought all children in Satellite were children of criminals.”

“Most are,” Divine admitted, watching Aki as she went through all other details of the file. “But there’s a select number of those eighteen and older that simply had bad luck during Zero Reverse and ended up on the wrong side of the sea. Quite a few of them had been Marked by now, but yes, there are still some unmarked.”

“That’s terrible – what’s their sin?” Aki closed the file and looked at Divine. “Will we change that?”

“One problem at the time, dear Aki,” Divine chuckled, not wanting to say he couldn’t care less about those stranded there: he wouldn’t have even known about them if he hadn’t dug into Yusei’s past and found out the cesspool of corruption and neglect.

“Okay,” Aki nodded and stood up, touching her barrette for a second before turning to Divine. “When can I meet him?”

“I’ll arrange you a meeting with Andromeda Crawford,” Divine nodded, seeing determination in her voice and body language. Aki was ready to ride out, and Divine was not going to stand in her way. “She’s his patron, meaning she’s letting him stay at her apartment.”

“Crawford?” Aki blinked, then relaxed. “At least he’s not going to be treated badly – I've met her before, and she’s a nice woman.”

_Nice?_ Divine wanted to snort, but refrained.  She was only nice to those she liked and deemed not to be a threat – a true friend of Seto Kaiba, that one. There were even rumors Divine remembered from when he was younger about the two being engaged and slated to merge Industrial Illusions and Kaiba Corporation. This never happened and the companies never merged, but everyone and their mother knew the two CEOs remained in close contact while denying any dating or engagement rumors, so Divine was extra careful.

Anyone who was allowed to call Seto Kaiba a friend was not to be taken lightly.

* * *

Ruka’s head snapped up as she heard a loud buzzing sound interrupt Rua and Yusei’s Duel – Yusei was just about to deliver a crushing blow to her brother, Ruka knew  from the look on her brother’s face, the field and Yusei’s small smile,  though she did appreciate Yusei letting Rua get in a few shots instead of immediately dismantling him.

“Hey, isn’t that our visitors’ buzzer?” Rua let his left arm with Duel Disk hang as he looked over to the giant screen with the feed from the lobby of the hotel they used to check who was ringing before letting the security know whether to let them up or not.

“I’ll check it, you finish your duel,” Ruka stood up from her seat on the bench, grinning at the despondent look on her twin’s face, and went to answer the buzzer.

When she clicked the button, the screen filled with the image of the man with teal hair a few shades darker than Ruka’s and Rua’s own, big teal eyes, small smile and a – Duel Spirit? Ruka narrowed her eyes at the not-cat with a enormous  round ruby at the tip of the tail and a ruby inlaid in the forehead.  How could she see Spirits over screens? It never worked before...

“ _Hello, is this Katayagi residence? This is Johan Andersen, I was invited by Katayagi Rua,_ ” the man spoke easily, and the cat rubbed her head against his chin as if to add the point.

“Yes, this is Katayagi residence,” Ruka informed him and shot Rua a glare and made a ‘come here’ hand gesture as she spotted the holograms fade away, indicating the end of the Duel. “What business do you have with Rua?”

“ _He mentioned knowing someone who struggled with their Spirit-seeing powers,_ ” Mr. Andersen said with a shrug. “ _And I’ve been able to see them ever since I could remember, so I started helping others so they wouldn’t walk in the dark like I had to._ ”

“What is it, Ruka?” Rua huffed, a pout on his face as he approached the screen, Yusei trailing behind him like a silent, blue shadow. Ruka crossed her arms and pointed with her head at the screen, little peeved Rua went behind her back. Rua must’ve contacted the man over that little episode she had two weeks ago when she couldn’t wake up for hours from a nightmare and it took Kuribbon ages to get Rua to wake her up. She wasn’t that weak to need help with her powers!

“Oh, Mr. Andersen! You’re so fast!” Rua’s eyes lit up to Ruka’s surprise, and floated over to the screen, pushing Ruka aside to inspect the man on the screen. “I didn’t think you’d be arriving until next month!”

“ _Rua, I suppose?_ ” Mr. Andersen chuckled over the line. “ _Well, I was busy, but an emergency forced me to come earlier, and I thought: why not pay you that visit I promised? So, if you would be o kind to let me and my friend in..._ ”

“Sure, sure!” Rua typed in the allowance code and turned off the screen, all smiles.

That was the last straw for Ruka – she delivered a slap over her brother’s head, seething as he watched him yelp and dance away from her. Why did he contact that man? She hadn’t had an episode in  _years_ , and her monsters told her she would’ve been fine, Kuribbon just got worried she’d miss school if she continued sleeping, so why did her brother do this without her knowledge?

“What was that for, Ruka?” Rua sniffled, and Ruka sent a laser-like look; Yusei stayed out of it.

“You went behind my back and called this man over _nothing_ ,” Ruka hissed at him, tracking every single of Rua’s movements. He wasn’t at all sorry, she realized with disgust: they were twins, and this was how he behaved – had he no shame? “I only overslept - ”

“You were _cold_ and _weren’t breathing,_ Ruka! Sorry if I found someone who would help you actually get better instead of just giving you more pills -” Rua fired back, cheeks flushing and arms folding behind his back in a soldier’s stance.

“I don’t need to _get better_ ,” Ruka retorted and turned her back to her twin. “I’m fine with my powers; you’re just jealous -”

“ _It’s not about my damn jealousy, Ruka, you weren’t breathing!_ ” Rua screamed at her, and Ruka stumbled as she quickly turned around to look at her brother. He was still flushed, arms flaying around as he took a step towards her. “I was so _scared_ , don’t you get it?! Doctors had no idea what to do with you before, I can’t lose you, you’re my only family, and if I need to call someone to help you get a hang so this never happens again behind your back, _I’ll do in a heartbeat!_ ”

With those words he stomped away up the stairs into their shared room, leaving Yusei and her to look at each other in an incredibly uncomfortable silence. Ruka waited for the older boy to add something, but to her surprise Yusei only sat on the couch and patted the seat next to himself for her to sit down.

“You’re not going to...” Ruka hesitantly walked up to the sit and plopped down, looking at Yusei’s blank face as he didn’t look at her.

“I have nothing to say,” Yusei shrugged, eyes fixed on the glass windows. “I don’t know what you went through, so I can’t say anything. For the record though,” here he looked at her from the corner of his eye, “if someone offers help, you should at least hear them out before dismissing them. Not because it’s polite, but because they might actually have something good to say to you.”

“Okay,” Ruka sighed, mood having fallen from bright and excited over Yusei and Rua’s Duel to murky and uncomfortable, and turned on her side, intending to go and cuddle with the throw pillow.

Instead of that, she felt Yusei’s hand land on her shoulder and he dragged her closer to himself, letting her cuddle up to him. Wide-eyed, Ruka accepted the gesture, and was rewarded with a small smile lifting the corners of Yusei’s eyes;  for a moment she could all but hear a soft roar-cum-purr she was pretty sure only dragons could make, and her heart lightened immensely.

Yusei was so warm and nice, she already mourned the moment she’d have to let him go; after all, no one ever stayed in her life apart from Rua.


	9. The dangers of changing fate (the collision course is set)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judai, Johan and Yusei meet up (though Yusei still has a bit of a memory problem), Aki and Andromeda are on collision course, and Rex and Rudger have a nice, brotherly chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I'm terribly late, but. But. I'm back home, and that, plus heavy uni load, were not at all helpful when it came to writing muse. In short, I hit a writer's block, and it took me a while to get over it. I've an unrelated 5D's one-shot coming up (thanks to the very nice person I met who's also a 5D's fan and who got me to fight through the block), and I need to finish the transfer of PJO fics here, but I can promise that the next couple of chapters are already planned out, and they will be coming - am not abandoning this just because I hit one roadblock!

“Er – hello?” Johan peeked into the apartment the nice lady at the reception sent him to after confirming he was expected by the Katayagi siblings. The place was unnaturally silent, with blinds rolled up and seemingly deserted; the white noise of the appliances only exacerbated his unease, and he placed a finger on his deck, ready to call out his partners -

 _Wait, Johan!_ Amethyst Cat suddenly appeared and placed her head on Johan’s hand, preventing him from drawing a card. _Yusei-kun is here!_

“What?” Johan reeled back mentally as his guards dropped. “Yusei- _kun_?!”

Eyes darting all over the open space, he finally found his quarry: black and yellow spikes peeking from the couch, before rising up as their owner stood up from his seat, a green-haired girl attached like a limpet to his arm.

“That’d be me,” Yusei- _kun_ looked at him, his blue eyes not giving away anything; but most importantly, _not recognizing him in any way._

_Shit, this is not good! Amethyst, get Judai to stop checking the plant life on the floor and get him over here!_

_Yes, I will!_ Amethyst Cat bounced off to find Johan’s easily distractable partner-in-crime, while he had to decide what to do with now-suspicious Yusei and what he had to assume was the girl he had been contacted about.

She was hanging onto him in a way Johan found particularly disturbing – he had seen it in Judai and Manjoume an heard about it in more detail from Shou and Asuka, one who had no siblings or any true friends to speak of before coming to Duel Academia and the other who had terrible siblings and friends he couldn’t rely on. She also didn’t look to be any older than ten or eleven, and while kids at that age tended to be more starstruck with having a older person listen to them, they shouldn’t be clutching onto them like they’re their only protection either.

“How do you know me?” Yusei interrupted Johan’s hurried analysis of the situation, and Johan had to refocus back.

How was he supposed to tell the other they had literally met yesterday, and not sound like he’s making things up? His eyes fell on the Bolt Hedgehog and Kuribbon peeking from behind the couch, just barely out of Johan’s sight. Oh, maybe it wouldn’t be so difficult, after all…

But where were Judai and Amethyst? Ruby would surely obey, but Amethyst was more happy to be called on to perform for the audience, the attention hog that she was…

No matter, he’ll deal with this on his own while Judai and Yubel take their time in getting to him.

“I met you yesterday, actually, at the mutual friend’s house,” Johan laughed with the just right amount of sheepishness, letting Ruby flicker into existence for the pair to see her clearly. “We were talking about the monster spirits.”

Yusei’s eyes widened, and immediately slid over to Kuribbon and Bolt Hedgehog – _so cute,_ Johan thought with amusement as he followed the two monsters as the skipped over to their owners.

“Ey-hey Johan! Sorry for the wait, I spotted this crazy looking plant that I could’ve _sworn_ was related in some way to Dandelion – _whoa!_ ” Judai nearly ran head-first into Johan’s back as he caught the sight of Yusei, and Johan was treated to the absolute _gem_ that was Judai’s expression. Rapidly changing from pink to red to grey to green and then back to red, it took all of Johan’s not insignificant patience he had cultivated through long association with the other man to not burst out laughing.

“You are?” Yusei removed his gaze from the three monsters currently in the room to focus on Judai.

“My friend Judai, you also met him yesterday,” Johan intervened before Judai could open his mouth and potentially transform the delicate situation into a timed bomb. Johan loved Judai, stars knew he loved him, but his best friend could be such an oblivious idiot sometimes. “Can we talk with you and Katayagi Rua?”

“Why do you want to talk with my brother? I’m the one with the powers,” the green-haired girl – who at the second glance actually looked a bit like him, now that Johan was not paying as much attention to Yusei – detached herself to cross her arms, Kuribbon hopping there immediately.

Johan held back a coo at the sweet sight; Judai had no such compunctions, and loudly cooed in tandem with Hane Kuriboh who floated from behind Judai’s back to Kuribbon and engaged in a conversation that consisted solely of _kuri_ sounds.

“Alright, Judai, stop being creepy with the coos and call back Hane Kuriboh, we still have to talk with Yusei and Miss Katayagi,” Johan interrupted the scene before it could go on any further – he hated being the only actual adult in the room, but if needs must…

“Party pooper,” Judai pouted, and Johan could distinctly hear Yubel cackling in the background. “But I guess, since it’s your party.”

Johan rolled his eyes – at this point, both Judai and he were equals when it came to authority on Monster Spirits, it was just that Johan had spent more time talking with human side of the issue, leaving Judai to deal with the Spirit World side – but there was no point in dissuading Judai, so he invited himself into the apartment, motioning for Miss Katayagi and Yusei to follow him.

“Make yourself comfy,” Johan told them as he sat down on the floor, crosslegged so Ruby could curl there to let him pet her without any issues. “Talking about spirits is always easier if you’re feeling relaxed.”

It was his standard shtick for getting kids and teens to calm down: sit down on or below their eye level, blatantly pet either Amethyst or Ruby to subconsciously implant the idea that seeing Spirits wasn’t a bad thing… Johan had perfected his routine over many, many visits, turning it into something also artistic, and he was glad to see Miss Katayagi slowly relaxing as he spoke, Kuribbon’s tail no longer swishing around as anxiously as it did before. Judai decided to hover in the background, but still within Yusei’s eyesight; it turned out to be a good call, since the boy wouldn’t relax unless he had all of them in his eyesight and classified as non-threatening.

Johan sighed, and made a mental note to reach out to O’Brien and ask him for the opinion about Yusei’s behavior; out of all of them, O’Brien was the one with the most hands-on knowledge about trauma and therapy, and Johan wasn’t shy about contacting his friends, unlike Judai.

“So, Miss Katayagi -”

“Ruka,” the girl interrupted him, eyes steely, and Johan nodded in both deference to her wish and approval.

“Ruka- _chan_. Could you tell me in more detail about the incident that made your brother call me in? No need to rush, just tell it as you remember it.”

* * *

  
“Crawford- _san_ , a call for you,” Andromeda’s secretary Ayumi said to her boss moments after she answered the phone. “It’s Jack Atlas’ secretary, Mikage- _san_.”

“Jack Atlas? The Turbo King?” Andromeda raised an eyebrow. What could Godwin’s little protege want from her? New cards didn’t seem likely, since the guy did well enough with all the cards he currently had… although it was still a possibility due to his on-the-ropes match with Yusei. “Transfer her over.”

Ayumi did as she was told, and Andromeda tapped the in-ear she used for inter-department communications to open the line.

“ _Moshi moshi_ , Andromeda Crawford speaking.”

“ _Moshi moshi, Crawford-kaicho_ ,” the sligthly shaky, but still quite professionally put-together female voice answered on the other side of the line. “ _I’m Mikage, calling in the name of Jack Atlas-sama._ ”

“Ah, Jack- _kun_ ,” Andromeda allowed herself to be slightly impertinent and condescending with the title use – she was older than Jack by over two decades after all, some liberties could be taken. “What could a Turbo King want from me?”

“ _Um, I, ah..._ ” the secretary stuttered a bit, and Andromeda’s eyes narrowed as she licked her lips. This didn’t sound like one of the standard calls she had gotten over the years; so many duelists thought to try their luck with Pegasus’ younger sister to get custom cards, foolishly assuming her gender would make her more pliable to persuasion and threats. She even had a prepared script for such calls – but this didn’t sound like it at all.

“Mikage- _san_ , I believe we’re both aware of how valuable time is to busy people,” Andromeda decided to give the other woman a push.

“ _I-I’m so sorry, Crawford-san, I’m just wondering… I wouldn’t want you to dismiss this as nonsense..._ ”

Atlas’ secretary now sounded truly panicked, and Andromeda sighed, shaking her head slightly as she moved in to calm the other down enough to hear the request.

“Mikage- _san,_ you forget how eccentric my brother could be.” The mention of her now deceased brother only left a soft pang of nostalgia and longing – time and acceptance had helped a lot in dealing with the enormous hole his absence had left in her life. “And no one has managed to truly exceed Kaiba- _kun_ ’s levels so far when it comes to unreasonable requests. I won’t be offended.”

Jack Atlas was certainly a difficult person to deal with – a lot of Pro Duelists were like that, a combination of fame and strong persona you had to develop to thrive in pro circuits – but you had to be on a next level to come anywhere _close_ to how much Seto could irritate her with unreasonable demands.

“ _Ah well, I suppose…_ ” Mikage fumbled with her words a bit more before clearing her throat and finally asking what she wanted. “ _Atlas-sama would like to schedule a meeting with you to talk about the history of a particular card he has in his possession._ ”

A history of a card. Andromeda hummed as she turned over the words in her head. This was… a bit unusual. The only card Jack Atlas currently had in his possession that had any sort of history – although legend would be a far better description in that case – was Red Demon’s Dragon, and Andromeda, while good at cards and their lore, was simply not related in any way to Crimson Star and its patron deity, Crimson Dragon, and therefore could not tell Jack anything Godwin couldn’t. She could tell him about how the card was created – the whole story behind how the initial five dragon cards turned into unexpected six cards was pretty darn hilarious – but not much else…

Still, it’d be good to have amicable relationships with as many servants of Crimson Dragon as possible, and this wasn’t outrageous request. Far from ordinary, yes, but not in any way beyond what Andromeda was comfortable sharing.

“I’m afraid I’ll only bore Jack- _kun_ with the history of Red Demon’s, but he wants to know more about card creation and how _nii-san_ and I created it, I suppose I could host him for an informal talk.”

“ _Eh, it’s actually – never mind,_ ” Mikage stopped herself before correcting Andromeda’s assumption, and quickly wrapped up the conversation to arrange the meeting time with Ayumi, leaving Andromeda rather intrigued and confused at the same time. Jack didn’t want to talk about Red Demon’s -

Ah.

Andromeda chuckled, shaking her head. She should’ve remembered it. Stardust Dragon was still in Jack’s possession, and apparently behaving in such a way Jack decided he needed to come and visit one of the card’s creators to figure out what was going on. She still had a bit of a hard time getting used to people in the Dueling community just not knowing about all the sordid details as to how the game was created, and how it was still being created.

In some ways, it was liberating; less people who knew about the messed up things Dueling could do, less chance it was that some random nutjob will decide to go crazy with powers on everyone. In other ways, it was stifling; she couldn’t talk freely about things for the fear of being labeled crazy, and those in the know were often forced to go incommunicado for extended periods of time, further limiting the pool of people she could talk openly with.

As she was mulling over that, her private phoneline rang. Shoulders stiffening – there weren’t many people that had her private number, and usually calling her there meant some shit was going down and her help was needed – she looked at the number flashing.

_Izayoi Aki, ah? Why was she calling her?_

She had given her private line to the young girl when they met five years ago at the some gala one of Neo Domino’s socialites threw, and Andromeda couldn’t find a reasonable enough excuse not to go. Even though she ended up being too late to convince not to throw in her lot with Divine and his lunatics, she did manage to get her the number of her private line in the office just in case she ever needed her.

“ _Moshi moshi,_ Aki- _chan_. What prompted this nice surprise?”

“ _Ah, moshi moshi, Crawford-san,_ ” Aki sounded more than slightly sheepish over the line, and Andromeda shook her head. The girl may have been Black Rose Witch to everyone else, but she still seemed to revert to her old self when talking to people she knew before falling in with Arcadia. “ _I, ah, I kind of have a favor to ask of you._ ”

“A favor?” Andromeda was now carefully listening, twirling a lock of her strawstick-straight silver-dyed hair. “Please do tell.”

“ _It’s a bit private… I’d much rather have the talk somewhere_ _safe._ ”

“My home, right now?” Andromeda offered, checking the bullet list of everything she had to do for the day and finding there was nothing she had to be in the Industrial Illusions personally for. She didn’t dare to hope too much, but if Aki was having any second thoughts about Arcadia, she’d be a fool not to exploit it.

After all, she still owed that asshole Divine for all the harassing and attempts on her life, and snatching Aki away would be a perfect revenge.

She stood up, waving to Ayumi and telling she’ll be out for the day, and left the office, not noticing she’d left her mobile phone on the table… which had pinged with incoming call only moments after she left the office.

_Incoming call: Johan-kun_

* * *

Rex Godwin sighed, pinching his nose as Yaeger pranced out of the room, happy with the report he submitted. Jack had been in contact with Andromeda Crawford over an unspecified reason (Mikage refused to divulge the reason, damn the woman), Divine had started sniffing around Yliaster a bit too much, and now he had confirmation Judai and Johan found Yusei and Katayagi Ruka.

Why couldn’t things be a little easier to deal with?

His eyes fell to the only painting he kept in his private office. He had commissioned it from Crawford siblings, trusting them to do the deity of Crimson Star justice, and they did not disappoint: the brilliant reds and glimmering golds of the dragon in flight over the misty Andes in the dead of the night, only illuminated by a bright red star were awe-inspiring. Rex stood up and approached the painting, brushing the edge of the frame.

When he had commissioned the painting, he was still reeling from the information dump about the fate of the Signers and Dark Signers. It had been difficult to accept the existence of higher beings, particularly since they seemed to care so little about humans who they relied on to conduct their wills and channel their powers; he had often toyed with the idea of leaving entirely, not helping Crimson Dragon and his prophesied servants destroy his older brother.

And then, he had been granted a lucky break at the last party Kaiba brothers hosted pre-Zero Reverse, before Seto disappeared and Mokuba moved to America to manage things there: he met the Dueling legends, and spoke to them in person about fate.

 _Fuck fate – that’s just a lazy way of saying you’re scared of taking your own destiny in your own hands,_ were Seto Kaiba’s exact words at the question, and Rex had not imagined a glare he had sent to Yugi Muto.

 _Fate is a finicky thing,_ Andromeda Crawford had shrugged, watching her brother talk away with Edo Phoenix. _In my experience, it’s more preoccupied with grand schemes than with tiny details; as long as you arrive at a certain point, it doesn’t matter how you got there or how you’ll proceed from there._

 _Fate can be fought, but don’t expect it to work the way you intended it to,_ Yugi Muto had a knowing look in his eyes as he said his opinion, and Rex shuddered at the mere memory of that look. Yugi Muto always seemed to know more than what he should, and his continued silence and wandering around the globe was a welcome relief to Yliaster and Rex.

The best part of it all, however, was how the trio had lit up a fire of hope; if he could delay the breakout of Earthbound Immortals until he could control all pawns on Crimson Dragon’s side, and his brother the Dark Signers, he could use Rudger's mark to create a perfect singularity, and erase both the agents of Light and Dark in one fell swoop, and also eliminate the necessity of any future sacrifices. The painting he had commissioned was actually more of a thank-you; he couldn’t exactly thank the trio in person – not with Kaiba and Yugi effectively turning into ghosts and Andromeda being unaware of the real reason he would be thanking her for – so he settled for giving the Crawford siblings an obscene amount of money for a painting.

The painting served a dual purpose: it was a showpiece – Rex very, very, _very_ much enjoyed rubbing the painting’s existence in the faces of the pretentious Neo Domino elites, particularly those who still recalled him as being nothing more than Shun Fudo’s assistant on Momentum project – and it also hid the keypad for the secret room, which was more of a glorified closet, from which he had an encrypted line to his brother.

Moving the painting aside, he swiftly typed in the six-digit password on the ever-changing digital keypad and stepped inside, pressing the button for the call.

Rudger Godwin answered not a minute later – he must’ve been taking a break from the quest of finding new Dark Signers.

“ _Rex, it’s good to hear from you again,_ ” Rudger’s deep voice, only minimally distorted by the electronic white noise, echoed in Rex’s ears, and he relaxed minutely. It always felt good to talk with his older brother. “ _I’m glad I wasn’t too busy to immediately answer your call._ ”

“It’s good to know you’re doing well too, brother,” Rex smiled and leaned back on the now closed doors of the secret room. “Before I tell you of my own developments, are there any significant ones on your side?”

“ _Not quite,_ ” Rudger sounded quite relaxed. “ _I still lack one more Dark Signer for the final Signer, but Uru assures me there’s no need to rush; same, however, cannot be said for Ccapac Apu’s brat. He’s frothing at the mouth to get going._ ”

“The newest trouble again?” Rex chuckled, recalling Rudger’s exasperated rants about Demak and Misty’s restlessness months after their resurrections. “Which of the Signers he has a specific issue with?”

“ _Stardust Dragon’s holder – Shun’s son,_ ” Rudger’s answer froze something deep in Rex’s blood. “ _Speaking of which, when were you going to tell me you managed to locate him?_ ”

“I’m sorry _nii-san_ , I had other fires to deal with,” Rex took a deep breath as he forced himself not to shiver at his brother’s strong disapproval radiating through the call. “Yuki and Andersen are back in Neo Domino, and Crawford is not shy in giving them her protection and endorsement.”

“… _I see,_ ” Rudger hummed after a few seconds, now more contemplative than angry, and Rex let out a relieved breath, going through his hair with his mechanical hand. “ _That could significantly complicate our plans. Neo Domino may have forgotten about the old ways of Dueling, but the old guard and their contacts most certainly hadn’t._ ”

“Indeed,” Rex nodded. “We don’t need any of the first generation of Duelists – or other second-generations – to come in and start wrecking havoc. Plus, Divine has become more brazen recently – he attacked Yusei, Yuki and Andersen in broad daylight -”

Suddenly an alarm rang in the room, and Rex jumped, turning towards the only screen in the entire room, which was blaring the obnoxious sound and flashing red letters at Rex.

_Alert: collision course, Black Rose Witch and Andromeda Crawford._

“ _Fuck!_ ” Rex swore wholeheartedly. “Divine just sent Black Rose Witch straight to Crawford! I’m sorry _nii-san_ , but I have to deal with this ASAP!”

“ _Not to worry,_ ” Rudger’s calming tone came from the speakers. “ _We shall continue when the plans are in less danger of collapsing on us. Goodbye, and good luck._ ”

“Thank you,” Rex muttered as he rushed out of the room and shouted for his secretary to get him Yaeger on the line, and for no one to disturb him for the next hour or so.

He prayed he’d be able to fix this without calling in the higher powers of Yliaster.


End file.
